[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 122 (Monday, June 25, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37936-37937]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-15424]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2012-0044; Docket No. 50-423]
Central Vermont Public Service Corporation, Gaz M[eacute]tro
Limited Partnership, Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. (Millstone
Power Station, Unit 3); Order Approving Application Regarding Proposed
Merger of Central Vermont Public Service Corporation and Gaz
M[eacute]tro Limited Partnership and Indirect Transfer of License
I
Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. (DNC or the licensee) is
authorized to act as the agent for the joint owners of the Millstone
Power Station, Unit 3 (MPS3), and has exclusive responsibility and
control over the physical construction, operation, and maintenance of
the facility as reflected in the Renewed Facility Operating License No.
NPF-49. Central Vermont Public Service Corporation (CVPS), one of the
joint owners, holds a 1.7303% minority interest in MPS3. MPS3 is
located in the town of Waterford, Connecticut.
II
By letter dated September 9, 2011, as supplemented on November 4,
2011, April 6, 2012, and May 4, 2012 (collectively, the application),
CVPS and Gaz M[eacute]tro Limited Partnership (Gaz M[eacute]tro)
submitted an application requesting that the U.S. Nuclear
[[Page 37937]]
Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) consent, pursuant to
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 50.80, to the
indirect transfer of control of the operating license for MPS3 to the
extent held by CVPS, resulting from the acquisition of CVPS by Gaz
M[eacute]tro.
The application states that on July 11, 2011, CVPS, Gaz
M[eacute]tro, and Danaus Vermont Corp., an independent wholly owned
subsidiary of Gaz M[eacute]tro formed as a merger subsidiary, entered
into an Agreement and Plan of Merger. The merger agreement provides
that Danaus Vermont Corp. will merge with and into CVPS, with CVPS
continuing as the surviving corporation and an indirect wholly owned
subsidiary of Gaz M[eacute]tro. As a result of the transaction, CVPS
will become a direct subsidiary of Northern New England Energy
Corporation, a Gaz M[eacute]tro subsidiary and holding company
organized and existing under the laws of the State of Vermont and
formed to own Gaz M[eacute]tro's energy-company investments in the
United States.
According to the application, CVPS is a Vermont corporation and the
largest electric utility in Vermont. Gaz M[eacute]tro is a Canadian
energy company. The merger of Gaz M[eacute]tro with CVPS will result in
the indirect transfer of control of CVPS' 1.7303% interest in the
license for MPS3. The principal owner and operator of MPS3 is DNC,
which owns 93.4707%. The remaining 4.7990% of the license is owned by
Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company. This transfer does
not affect Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company's
ownership or DNC's ownership and operation of the facility.
No physical changes to the MPS3 facility or operational changes are
being proposed in the application.
Notice of the request for approval and opportunity for a hearing
was published in the Federal Register on February 27, 2012 (77 FR
11596). No comments or hearing requests were received.
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. Upon review of the information in the application as
supplemented and other information before the Commission, and relying
upon the representations and agreements in the application, the NRC
staff has determined that the proposed merger between CVPS and Gaz
M[eacute]tro, as described in the application, will not affect the
qualifications of DNC as a holder of the Renewed Facility Operating
License No. NPF-49, and that the indirect transfer of the license, to
the extent affected by the proposed acquisition, is otherwise
consistent with applicable provisions of law, regulations, and Orders
issued by the Commission, pursuant thereto, subject to the conditions
set forth herein. The foregoing findings are supported by a safety
evaluation (SE) dated June 15, 2012.
III
Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 161b, 161i, 161o, and 184 of the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), 42 U.S.C. 2201(b),
2201(i), 2201(o), and 2234; and 10 CFR 50.80, it is hereby ordered that
the application regarding the indirect license transfers related to the
proposed corporate merger, as described herein, is approved, subject to
the following conditions:
1. The Negation Action Plan provided to the NRC for review on April
6, 2012 may not be modified in any respect concerning decision-making
authority over ``safety issues'' as defined therein without the prior
written consent of the Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
2. At least half the members of CVPS' Board of Directors shall be
U.S. citizens.
3. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Nuclear Officer (CNO)
and Chairman of the Board of Directors of CVPS shall be U.S. citizens.
These individuals shall have the responsibility and exclusive authority
to ensure and shall ensure that the business and activities of CVPS
with respect to the MPS3 license is at all times conducted in a manner
consistent with the public health and safety and common defense and
security of the United States.
4. The CVPS Board of Directors will establish a Special Nuclear
Committee (SNC) composed of U.S. citizens, a majority of whom are not
officers, directors, or employees of CVPS, Gaz M[eacute]tro, or any Gaz
M[eacute]tro subsidiaries. The SNC will report to the CVPS Board of
Directors on a quarterly basis for informational purposes. The SNC will
make available to the NRC for review these and any other reports
regarding foreign ownership and control of nuclear operations.
5. Should the proposed corporate merger not be completed within 1
year from the date of this Order, this Order shall become null and
void, provided, however, upon written application and good cause shown,
such date may be extended by Order.
This Order is effective upon issuance.
For further details with respect to this Order, see the initial
application dated September 9, 2011 (Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML11256A051), as supplemented
by letters dated November 4, 2011 (under ADAMS Accession No.
ML11311A148), April 6, 2012 (under ADAMS Accession No. ML12100A017),
and May 4, 2012 (under ADAMS Accession No. ML12128A433) and the SE
dated June 15, 2012, which are available for public inspection at the
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North,
Room O1-F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, MD.
Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC are
accessible electronically through ADAMS in the NRC Library 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 15th day of June 2012.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Louise Lund,
Acting Director, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of
Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2012-15424 Filed 6-22-12; 8:45 am]
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