[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 11 (Wednesday, January 16, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2953-2955]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-638]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-271]


Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, 
LLC, Vermont Yankee 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-28 for the 
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station currently held by Entergy Nuclear 
Vermont Yankee, LLC, as owner and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., as 
the licensed operator of Vermont Yankee 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 Vermont Yankee, LLC 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 Vermont Yankee 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 Vermont Yankee, LLC.
    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

[[Page 2954]]

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. 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 2955]]

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. E8-638 Filed 1-15-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P