[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 228 (Tuesday, November 25, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71704-71705]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-27950]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-244]


R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant, LLC; R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power 
Plant; Notice of Consideration of Approval of 10 CFR 50.80 Indirect 
Transfer of Control of License and Opportunity for a Hearing

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) is 
considering the issuance of an Order under 10 CFR 50.80 approving the 
indirect transfer of Facility Operating License No. DPR-18 for the R.E. 
Ginna Nuclear Power Plant, currently held by R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power 
Plant, LLC, as owner and licensed operator. R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power 
Plant, LLC is owned by Constellation Nuclear Power Plants, Inc., which 
is owned by Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, LLC (CENG).
    According to an application for approval dated October 3, 2008, 
filed by CENG and MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company (MEHC), the 
indirect transfer of control would result from the proposed acquisition 
by merger of CENG's parent corporation, Constellation Energy Group, 
Inc. (CEG) by MEHC. MEHC will indirectly own 100 percent of CEG through 
its direct wholly owned subsidiary Constellation Energy Holdings, LLC, 
a holding company.
    CEG will remain as the parent company of CENG and CENG will remain 
as the parent company of the licensee. There will be no direct transfer 
of the license. R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant, LLC, will continue to 
own and operate the facility. No physical changes to the facility or 
operational changes are being proposed in the application.
    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 
transfer 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(s) whose interest may be affected by the Commission's action on 
the application may request a hearing and intervention via electronic 
submission through the NRC E-filing system. 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).
    All documents filed in NRC adjudicatory proceedings, including a 
request for hearing, a petition for leave to intervene, any motion or 
other document filed in the proceeding prior to the submission of a 
request for hearing or petition to intervene, and documents filed by 
interested governmental entities participating under 10 CFR 2.315(c), 
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 
ten (10) 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 ViewerTM 
to access the Electronic Information Exchange (EIE), a component of the 
E-Filing system. The Workplace Forms ViewerTM 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.

[[Page 71705]]

    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.
    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 submissions.
    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 petitions to intervene and requests for 
hearing, within 30 days from the date of publication of this notice, 
persons may submit written comments regarding the indirect 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 indirect license transfer 
application, see the application dated October 3, 2008, 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].
    Attorneys for applicants: Daniel F. Stenger, Hogan & Hartson LLP, 
555 Thirteenth Street, NW., Washington, DC 20004, tel: 202-637-5691, e-
mail: [email protected] (counsel for CENG); and John O'Neill, 
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, 2300 N Street, NW., Washington, DC 
20037, tel. 202-663-8148, e-mail: john.o'[email protected] 
(counsel for MEHC).

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 19th day of November 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. E8-27950 Filed 11-24-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P