[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 59 (Monday, March 28, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17160-17162]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-7213]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-391; NRC-2008-0369]


Notice of Finding of No Significant Antitrust Changes and Time 
for Filing Requests for Reevaluation for Tennessee Valley Authority, 
Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Unit 2, Spring City, TN

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

ACTION: Tennessee Valley Authority, Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Unit 2; 
Notice of No Significant Antitrust Changes and Time for Filing Requests 
for Reevaluation.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Aaron Szabo, Financial Analyst, 
Financial Analysis and International Projects Branch, Division of 
Policy and Rulemaking, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Telephone: 
301-415-1985; fax number: 301-415-2102; e-mail: [email protected].

[[Page 17161]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction

    The Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) has 
made a finding in accordance with Section 105c(2) of the Atomic Energy 
Act, as amended, that no significant (antitrust) changes in the 
applicant's activities or proposed activities have occurred subsequent 
to the antitrust construction permit review of Unit 2 of the Watts Bar 
Nuclear Plant (WBN) by the U.S. Attorney General and the Commission.
    Section 105c(2) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, 
provides for an antitrust review of an operating license application, 
filed before August 8, 2005, if the Commission determines that 
significant changes in the applicant's activities or proposed 
activities have occurred subsequent to the previous construction permit 
review. The Commission has delegated the authority to make the 
``significant change'' determination to the Director, NRR.
    Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) application for construction 
permits and operating licenses for the WBN Units 1 and 2 have been the 
subject of 4 previous antitrust reviews. In connection with the 
construction permit review in 1972, the Acting Assistant Attorney 
General for Antitrust of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) found no 
antitrust problems that would require a hearing. In subsequent 
operating license reviews in 1979, 1983 and 1991, the NRC staff found 
``no significant changes'' that would warrant an operating license 
antitrust review.
    Based upon an examination of the events since the previous 
operating license review of TVA's activities conducted in 1991, the NRC 
staff has concluded, after consulting with the Department of Justice, 
that the changes that have occurred since the construction permit 
review are not of the nature to require a formal antitrust review at 
the operating license stage of the application.

II. Summary of Staff Analysis and Recommendation

    In reaching this conclusion, the NRC staff considered the structure 
of the utility industry in the Tennessee Valley and adjacent areas, the 
events relevant to the construction permit review and the previous 
operating license reviews for WBN. Due to construction delays at the 
WBN facility, the staff reviewed TVA's activities in 1979, 1983, 1990, 
and again in 2010 to determine whether there have been changes in TVA's 
activities since the completion on the construction permit antitrust 
review in 1972 that would create or maintain a situation inconsistent 
with the antitrust laws. Several types of changes were identified in 
each of the earlier post construction permit reviews; however, it was 
determined that none of the changes resulted from abuse of TVA's market 
power.
    In its review of TVA's activities in the 2010 operating license 
review, the staff again found no evidence of changed activity 
associated with abuse of its market power. In relation to TVA's 
customers, TVA projected a capacity shortfall based on previous long-
term agreements, with or without the operation of WBN Unit 2, which 
would be inconsistent with a utility using anticompetitive behavior. In 
relation to building transmission, rate schedules and capacity 
additions other than from operation of WBN Unit 2, all of the 
developments were not atypical of a large utility and did not raise 
significant antitrust issues.
    Further, in 1997, TVA reached a settlement agreement that defined 
the counterparties and arrangements under which TVA can only make 
exchange power arrangements with other power generating companies 
consistent with the provisions of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 
1933, as amended (TVA Act). The region that TVA is allowed to supply 
and sell power is still dictated by Section 15d(a) of the TVA Act. But, 
TVA may now only engage in construction of generating capacity or 
purchase of generating capacity as it needs to supply power demands in 
its own service area and may not knowingly exchange power if the 
purchaser is procuring power for the purpose of reselling such power at 
wholesale to any third party not authorized to exchange power with the 
TVA.
    As a result, the NRC staff does not believe that any changed 
activity attributed to TVA since the 1979 operating license review is 
``significant'' in terms of the Commission's V.C. Summer decision (see 
Commission Memorandum and Order CLI-80-28, dated June 30, 1980, at 11 
NRC 817). The staff recommended that the Director of the Office of 
Nuclear Reactor Regulation find that ``no significant changes'' have 
occurred in TVA's activities since the previous antitrust operating 
license review completed in 1991.

III. Finding of No Significant Changes

    On the basis of the staff's analysis and recommendation, the 
Director of NRR has concluded in his decision dated March 21, 2011, 
that there have been no ``significant changes'' in the applicant's 
activities or proposed activities since the completion of the previous 
antitrust review.

IV. Further Information

    Documents related to this action, including the application for an 
operating license and supporting documentation, are available 
electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, you can access the 
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), which 
provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS 
accession numbers for the documents related to this notice are:

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             Accession No.                                                             Document description
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ML073130086............................  NRC letter to DOJ, dated August 23, 1971, forwarding antitrust review.
ML073130092............................  DOJ letter dated December 11, 1972, with no antitrust problems.
ML073380454............................  NRC letter dated September 20, 1991, No Significant Change Finding.
ML090700378............................  TVA updated application for WBN Unit 2 operating license, dated March 4, 2009.
ML101400184............................  TVA letter of May 13, 2010, Update Antitrust Review.
ML102160085............................  TVA letter of July 29, 2010, Response to request for additional information.
ML110691059............................  DOJ letter dated December 16, 2010, with no antitrust problems.
ML110550652............................  TVA letter of February 22, 2011, response to antitrust clarification questions.
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    If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in 
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public 
Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or 
by e-mail to [email protected].

[[Page 17162]]

    These documents may also be viewed electronically on the public 
computers located at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), O1 F21, One 
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR 
reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee.
    Any person whose interest may be affected by this finding, may 
file, with full particulars, a request for reevaluation with the 
Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555 within 30 days of the 
initial publication of this notice for the Federal Register. Request 
for reevaluation of the no significant change determination shall be 
accepted after the date when the Director's finding becomes final, but 
before the issuance of the operating license only if they contain new 
information, such as information about facts or events of antitrust 
significance that have occurred since that date or information that 
could not reasonably have been admitted prior to that date.
    A copy of the director's decision will be filed with the Secretary 
of the Commission for the Commission's review. The director's decision 
will constitute the final action of the Commission 30 days after the 
date of the decision, unless the Commission, on its own motion, 
institutes a review of the director's decision in that time.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd day of March 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Stephen J. Campbell,
Chief, Watts Bar Special Projects Branch, Division of Operating Reactor 
Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2011-7213 Filed 3-25-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P