[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 59 (Wednesday, March 28, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14621-14622]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-5641]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Notice of Consideration of Approval of Transfer of Facility 
Licenses and Conforming Amendments, and Opportunity for a Hearing

General Electric Company; Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor (Docket No. 
50-18); General Electric Test Reactor (Docket No. 50-70); Nuclear Test 
Reactor (Docket No. 50-73); Esada Vallecitos Experimental Superheat 
Reactor (Docket No. 50-183)

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is 
considering the issuance of an order under 10 CFR 50.80 approving the 
direct transfer of the Facility Licenses, which are numbered DPR-1 for 
the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor (VBWR), TR-1 for the General 
Electric Test Reactor (GETR), R-33 for the Nuclear Test Reactor (NTR), 
and DR-10 for the ESADA Vallecitos Experimental Superheat Reactor 
(EVESR) currently held by General Electric Company, as owner and 
licensed operator. The transfer would be to GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy 
Americas, LLC. The Commission is also considering amending the licenses 
for administrative purposes to reflect the proposed transfer.
    According to an application for approval filed by General Electric 
Company, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC, a newly formed 
entity, would acquire ownership of the facilities following approval of 
the proposed license transfer, and would be responsible for the 
operations and maintenance of the VBWR, GETR, NTR and EVESR facilities. 
This new entity will be wholly owned by GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy 
Holdings, LLC, created as a parent company. A U.S. subsidiary or 
subsidiaries of Hitachi Ltd, a Japanese company, will hold a 40% 
ownership interest in GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Holdings, LLC and the 
General Electric Company, through various subsidiaries, will hold a 60% 
ownership interest.
    No physical changes to the facilities or other changes are being 
proposed in the application.
    The proposed amendments would replace references to General 
Electric Company in the licenses with references to GE-Hitachi Nuclear 
Energy Americas, LLC, to reflect the proposed transfer.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80, no license, or any right thereunder, 
shall be transferred, directly or indirectly, through transfer of 
control of the license, unless the Commission shall give its consent in 
writing. The Commission will approve an application for the direct 
transfer of a license, if the Commission determines that the proposed 
transferee is qualified to hold the license and that the transfer is 
otherwise consistent with applicable provisions of law, regulations, 
and orders issued by the Commission pursuant thereto.
    Before issuance of the proposed conforming license amendments, the 
Commission will have made findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 
1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's regulations.
    As provided in 10 CFR 2.1315, unless otherwise determined by the 
Commission with regard to a specific application, the Commission has 
determined that any amendment to the license of a utilization facility 
which does no more than conform the license to reflect the transfer 
action involves no significant hazards consideration. No contrary 
determination has been made with respect to this specific license 
amendment application. In light of the generic determination reflected 
in 10 CFR 2.1315, no public comments with respect to significant 
hazards considerations are being solicited, notwithstanding the general 
comment procedures contained in 10 CFR 50.91.
    The filing of requests for hearing and petitions for leave to 
intervene, and written comments with regard to the license transfer 
application, are discussed below.
    Within 20 days from the date of publication of this notice, any 
person whose interest may be affected by the Commission's action on the 
application may request a hearing and, if not the applicant, may 
petition for leave to intervene in a hearing proceeding on the 
Commission's action. Requests for a hearing and petitions for leave to 
intervene should be filed in accordance with the Commission's rules of 
practice set forth in Subpart C ``Rules of General Applicability: 
Hearing Requests, Petitions to Intervene, Availability of Documents, 
Selection of Specific Hearing Procedures, Presiding Officer Powers, and 
General Hearing Management for NRC Adjudicatory Hearings,'' of 10 CFR 
Part 2. In particular, such requests and petitions must comply with the 
requirements set forth in 10 CFR 2.309. Untimely requests and petitions 
may be denied, as provided in 10 CFR 2.309(c)(1), unless good cause for 
failure to file on time is established. In addition, an untimely 
request or petition should address the factors that the Commission will 
also consider, in reviewing untimely requests or petitions, set forth 
in 10 CFR 2.309(c)(1)(i)-(viii).
    Requests for a hearing and petitions for leave to intervene should 
be served upon Mr. Donald J. Silverman, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP, 
1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20004 (tel: 202-739-5502; 
fax: 202-739-3001; e-mail: [email protected]); the General 
Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001 
(e-mail address for filings regarding license transfer cases only: 
[email protected]); and the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: 
Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, in accordance with 10 CFR 2.302 
and 2.305.
    The Commission will issue a notice or order granting or denying a 
hearing request or intervention petition, designating the issues for 
any hearing that will be held and designating the Presiding Officer. A 
notice granting a hearing will be published in the Federal Register and 
served on the parties to the hearing.
    As an alternative to requests for hearing and petitions to 
intervene, within 30 days from the date of publication of this notice, 
persons may submit written comments regarding the license transfer 
application, as provided for in 10 CFR 2.1305. The Commission will 
consider and, if appropriate,

[[Page 14622]]

respond to these comments, but such comments will not otherwise 
constitute part of the decisional record. Comments should be submitted 
to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, and should 
cite the publication date and page number of this Federal Register 
notice.
    For further details with respect to this action, see the 
application dated January 19, 2007, available for public inspection at 
the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint 
North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), 
Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible 
electronically from the Agency wide Documents Access and Management 
System's (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the 
NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do 
not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the 
documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff 
by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to 
[email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 21st day of March 2007.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Marvin M. Mendonca,
Senior Project Manager, Research and Test Reactors Branch B, Division 
of Policy and Rulemaking, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. E7-5641 Filed 3-27-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P