[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 130 (Monday, July 9, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37266-37267]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-13259]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-458]


Entergy Gulf States, Inc., River Bend Station, Unit 1; Notice of 
Consideration of Approval of Transfer of Facility Operating License and 
Conforming Amendment and Opportunity for a Hearing

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is 
considering the issuance of an order under 10 CFR 50.80 approving the 
direct transfer of the Facility Operating License (No. NPF-47) for the 
River Bend Station, Unit 1 (RBS), to the extent currently held by 
Entergy Gulf States, Inc. (EGS), as owner of RBS. The transfer would be 
to Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C. (EGS-LA), a Louisiana limited 
liability company. Entergy Operations, Inc. (EOI), the licensed 
operator of the facility, will remain as such and will continue to 
operate RBS. The Commission is also considering amending the license 
for administrative purposes to reflect the proposed transfer.
    According to an application for approval filed by EGS and EOI, both 
EGS and EOI are direct subsidiaries of Entergy Corporation. Under a 
proposed restructuring, EGS will merge into EGS-LA, with EGS-LA being 
the surviving entity. EGS-LA, will own all of EGS' Louisiana assets, 
including RBS, except for EGS' undivided ownership interests in Big 
Cajun, Unit 2 and the Nelson 6 coal plants, which will be jointly owned 
with Entergy Texas, Inc. (ETI), a company to be formed by EGS.
    Once these and other steps of the restructuring are competed, EGS-
LA will serve EGS' current retail customers in Louisiana and EGS' 
current wholesale customers, and ETI will serve EGS' current retail 
customers in Texas. EGS-LA's retail utility operations will be subject 
to the jurisdiction of the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) 
to the same extent that LPSC currently possesses jurisdiction over EGS' 
retail utility operations. EGS-LA will succeed to and assume all of 
EGS' jurisdictional tariffs, rate schedules, and service agreements, 
and provide electric service to EGS' customers without interruption.
    EOI operates RBS pursuant to an Operating Agreement with EGS. EOI 
will continue to operate RBS and the current Operating Agreement will 
be amended to reflect the new owner of the plant. EOI will not be 
affected by the restructuring.

[[Page 37267]]

    No physical changes to the RBS facility or operational changes are 
being proposed in the application.
    The proposed amendment would replace references to Entergy Gulf 
States, Inc., in the license with references to Entergy Gulf States 
Louisiana, L.L.C., 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 amendment, 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 Terence A. Burke, Associate General Counsel--Nuclear, 
Entergy Services, Inc., 1340 Echelon Parkway, Jackson MS 39213; 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, 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 May 29, 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 Agencywide 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 2nd day of July, 2007.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Bhalchandra Vaidya,
Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch IV, Division of Operating 
Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
 [FR Doc. E7-13259 Filed 7-6-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P