[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 11 (Wednesday, January 16, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2951-2953]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-637]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-293]
Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., Entergy Nuclear Generation
Company, Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station; Notice of Consideration of
Approval of Application Regarding Proposed Corporate Restructuring and
Opportunity for a Hearing
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is
considering the issuance of an Order under 10 CFR 50.80 approving the
indirect transfer of the Facility Operating License No. DPR-35 for the
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station currently held by Entergy Nuclear
Generation Company, as owner and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. as
the licensed operator of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.
According to an application for approval filed by Entergy Nuclear
Operations, Inc. (ENOI) on behalf of itself and the owners, certain
planned corporate restructuring transactions will involve the creation
of new intermediary holding companies and/or changes in the
intermediary holding companies within the ownership structure for the
foregoing licensees. Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. will continue to
operate the facility and Entergy Nuclear Generation Company
[[Page 2952]]
will continue to own the facility. There will be no direct transfer of
the license. However, the corporate restructuring transactions will
result in an indirect transfer of control of the license.
No physical changes to the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station or
operational changes are being proposed in the application.
The Board of Directors of Entergy Corporation has proposed that the
wholesale nuclear business segment be organized under a publicly owned
holding company, referred to as ``NewCo,'' that will be the indirect
parent company of Entergy Nuclear Generation Company.
ENOI will be owned by a parent company referred to as ENOI
Holdings, LLC, which, in turn, will be owned 50 percent by Entergy
Corporation and 50 percent by NewCo. Each of these 50 percent interests
will be held by wholly owned subsidiaries of Entergy Corporation and
NewCo.
ENOI will also be converted from a corporation to a limited
liability company and its name will be changed to ENOI LLC. Under
Delaware law, ENOI LLC will assume all of the rights and
responsibilities of ENOI and it will be the same company (legal entity)
both before and after the conversion and name change. ENOI will
separately submit a request for license amendments to make the
administrative changes as a result of ENOI's name change from ``Entergy
Nuclear Operations, Inc.'' to ``ENOI LLC.''
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 indirect
transfer of a license, if the Commission determines that the proposed
corporate restructuring will not affect the qualifications of the
licensee 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.
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 and the NRC E-Filing rule discussed below. 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).
Those permitted to intervene become parties to the proceeding,
subject to any limitations in the Order granting leave to intervene,
and have the opportunity to participate fully in the conduct of the
hearing. A request for hearing or a petition for leave to intervene
must be filed in accordance with the NRC E-Filing rule, which the NRC
promulgated in August, 2007, 72 FR 49139 (Aug. 28, 2007). The E-Filing
process requires participants to submit and serve documents over the
internet or in some cases to mail copies on electronic storage media.
Participants may not submit paper copies of their filings unless they
seek a waiver in accordance with the procedures described below.
To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at least
five (5) days prior to the filing deadline, the petitioner/requestor
must contact the Office of the Secretary by e-mail at
[email protected], or by calling (301) 415-1677, to request (1) a
digital ID certificate, which allows the participant (or its counsel or
representative) to digitally sign documents and access the E-Submittal
server for any proceeding in which it is participating; and/or (2)
creation of an electronic docket for the proceeding (even in instances
in which the petitioner/requestor (or its counsel or representative)
already holds an NRC-issued digital ID certificate). Each petitioner/
requestor will need to download the Workplace Forms Viewer\TM\ to
access the Electronic Information Exchange (EIE), a component of the E-
Filing system. The Workplace Forms Viewer TM is free and is
available at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/install-viewer.html. Information about applying for a digital ID certificate is
available on NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/apply-certificates.html.
Once a petitioner/requestor has obtained a digital ID certificate,
had a docket created, and downloaded the EIE viewer, it can then submit
a request for hearing or petition for leave to intervene. Submissions
should be in Portable Document Format (PDF) in accordance with NRC
guidance available on the NRC public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html. A filing is considered complete at the
time the filer submits its documents through EIE. To be timely, an
electronic filing must be submitted to the EIE system no later than
11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. Upon receipt of a
transmission, the E-Filing system time-stamps the document and sends
the submitter an e-mail notice confirming receipt of the document. The
EIE system also distributes an e-mail notice that provides access to
the document to the NRC Office of the General Counsel and any others
who have advised the Office of the Secretary that they wish to
participate in the proceeding, so that the filer need not serve the
documents on those participants separately. Therefore, applicants and
other participants (or their counsel or representative) must apply for
and receive a digital ID certificate before a hearing request/petition
to intervene is filed so that they can obtain access to the document
via the E-Filing system.
A person filing electronically may seek assistance through the
``Contact Us'' link located on the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html or by calling the NRC technical help line,
which is available between 8:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., Eastern Time,
Monday through Friday. The help line number is (800) 397-4209 or
locally, (301) 415-4737.
Participants who believe that they have a good cause for not
submitting documents electronically must file a motion, in accordance
with 10 CFR 2.302(g), with their initial paper filing requesting
authorization to continue to submit documents in paper format. Such
filings must be submitted by: (1) First class mail addressed to the
Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemaking and
Adjudications Staff; or (2) courier, express mail, or expedited
delivery service to the Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth Floor, One
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville, Pike, Rockville, Maryland, 20852,
Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff.
[[Page 2953]]
Participants filing a document in this manner are responsible for
serving the document on all other participants. Filing is considered
complete by first-class mail as of the time of deposit in the mail, or
by courier, express mail, or expedited delivery service upon depositing
the document with the provider of the service.
Non-timely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be
entertained absent a determination by the Commission, the presiding
officer, or the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that the petition
and/or request should be granted and/or the contentions should be
admitted based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR
2.309(c)(1)(i)-(viii). To be timely, filings must be submitted no later
than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date.
Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in
NRC's electronic hearing docket which is available to the public at
http://ehd.nrc.gov/EHD_Proceeding/home.asp, unless excluded pursuant
to an Order of the Commission, an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, or
a Presiding Officer. Participants are requested not to include personal
privacy information, such as social security numbers, home addresses,
or home phone numbers in their filings. With respect to copyrighted
works, except for limited excerpts that serve the purpose of the
adjudicatory filings and would constitute a Fair Use application,
participants are requested not to include copyrighted materials in
their works.
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 July 30, 2007, as supplemented by letter dated
December 5, 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 3rd day of January 2008.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Douglas V. Pickett,
Senior Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch I-1, Division of
Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. E8-637 Filed 1-15-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P