[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 237 (Friday, December 9, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77021-77022]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-31635]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2011-0283; License No. NPF-63; Docket No. 50-400]


In the Matter of Carolina Power & Light Company, North Carolina 
Eastern Municipal Power Agency Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 
1; Order Approving Indirect Transfer of Control of License

I

    Carolina Power & Light Company (CP&L, the licensee) and North 
Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency are the owners of Shearon 
Harris Nuclear Power Plant (Harris), Unit 1. With respect to their 
ownership, they are coholders of Renewed Facility Operating License No. 
NPF-63. The Harris facility consists of a single unit Westinghouse 
three-loop pressurized water reactor located in Wake and Chatham 
Counties, North Carolina. The facility operating license authorizes 
CP&L to possess, use, and operate the Harris facility.

II

    By application dated March 30, 2011 (Agencywide Documents Access 
and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML11110A031), as 
supplemented by letter dated September 2, 2011 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML11255A129) (collectively hereinafter referred to as the application), 
the licensee requested, on its own behalf, pursuant to Section 184 of 
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and Section 50.80 of Title 
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), that the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) consent to the proposed 
indirect transfer of control of facility operating license to for 
Harris, Unit 1, to the extent held by CP&L. The proposed indirect 
transfer of control of the Harris license results from the planned 
corporate merger between Progress Energy, Inc. (Progress Energy) and 
Duke Energy Corporation (Duke Energy). Progress Energy is CP&L's 
ultimate parent corporation. As part of the transaction, Progress 
Energy will merge with Diamond Acquisition Corporation, a wholly owned 
subsidiary of Duke Energy. Progress Energy will be the surviving entity 
and will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Duke Energy. Progress 
Energy will become an intermediate parent corporation of CP&L.
    The ownership interest in Harris held by CP&L is 83.83 percent and 
that held by North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency is 16.17 
percent. CP&L is

[[Page 77022]]

the sole operator of Harris. The proposed indirect transfer of control 
of the Brunswick operating license will not result in any change in the 
role of the CP&L as the licensed operator and owner of the licensed 
facilities and will not result in any changes to its financial 
qualifications, decommissioning funding assurance, or technical 
qualifications. CP&L will retain the requisite qualifications to own 
and operate the licensed facility. North Carolina Eastern Municipal 
Power Agency is not involved in the proposed transaction and will 
continue to own 16.17 percent of Harris facility.
    Approval of the indirect transfer of control of the facility 
operating license was requested by CP&L. A notice entitled, ``Notice of 
Consideration of Approval of Application for Indirect License Transfers 
Resulting from the Proposed Merger Between Progress Energy, Inc. and 
Duke Energy Corporation, and Opportunity for Hearing,'' was published 
in the Federal Register on August 30, 2011 (76 FR 53967). No comments 
or hearing requests were received.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80(a), no license, or any right thereunder, 
shall be transferred, directly or indirectly, through transfer of 
control of the license, unless the NRC shall give its consent in 
writing. Upon review of the information in the application and other 
information before the Commission, and relying on the representations 
in the application, the NRC staff has determined that the proposed 
indirect transfer of control of the Harris license to the extent held 
by CP&L, to the extent affected by the planned corporate merger between 
Progress Energy and Duke Energy Corporation, will not affect the 
qualifications of CP&L as holder of the Harris license and is otherwise 
consistent with the applicable provisions of law, regulations, and 
orders issued by the NRC, pursuant thereto. The findings set forth 
above are supported by a safety evaluation dated December 2, 2011.

III

    Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 161b, 161i, 161o, and 184 of the 
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. Sections 2201(b), 
2201(i), 2201(o), and 2234 respectively); and 10 CFR 50.80, it is 
hereby ordered that the application regarding the indirect license 
transfer related to the proposed merger is approved.
    It is further ordered that after receipt of all required regulatory 
approvals of the proposed indirect transfer action, CP&L shall inform 
the Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation in writing of 
the date of the closing of the corporate merger of Progress Energy and 
Duke Energy. Should the indirect transfer of control of the licenses 
not be completed by December 2, 2012, this Order shall become null and 
void, provided, however, upon written application and good cause shown, 
such date may be extended by order of the Commission.
    This Order is effective upon issuance.
    For further details with respect to this Order, see the initial 
application dated March 30, 2011, as supplemented by letter dated 
September 2, 2011, and the Safety Evaluation dated December 2, 2011, 
which are available for public inspection at the Commission's Public 
Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area 
01 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. 
Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC are 
accessible electronically through ADAMS at 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 email to [email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day of December 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Michele G. Evans,
Director, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2011-31635 Filed 12-8-11; 8:45 am]
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