[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 34 (Wednesday, February 20, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11904-11907]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-03859]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-295 and 50-304; NRC-2013-0034]
Zion Nuclear Power Station, Units 1 and 2; ZionSolutions, LLC;
Consideration of Indirect Transfer
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Request for license transfer; opportunity to comment;
opportunity to request a hearing and petition for leave to intervene;
order.
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DATES: Comments must be filed by March 22, 2013. A request for a
hearing must be filed by March 12, 2013.
ADDRESSES: You may access information and comment submissions related
to this document, which the NRC possesses and are publicly available,
by searching on http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2013-
0034. You may submit comments by any of the following methods (unless
this document describes a different method for submitting comments on a
specific subject):
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0034. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher 301-492-3668; email
[email protected].
Mail comments to: Chief, Rules, Announcements, and
Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWB-05-
B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
Fax comments to: RADB at 301-492-3446.
For additional direction on accessing information and submitting
comments, see ``Accessing Information and Submitting Comments'' in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
[[Page 11905]]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John B. Hickman, Project Manager,
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management
Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001; telephone: 301-415-3017; or email at: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments
A. Accessing Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0034 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may
access information related to this document, which the NRC possesses
and are publicly available, by any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0034.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC
Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the
search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and then select ``Begin Web-
based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's
Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-
4737, or by email to [email protected]. The ADAMS accession number
for each document referenced in this document (if that document is
available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is
referenced. The application dated January 10, 2013, is under ADAMS
Accession No. ML13014A007.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2013-0034 in the subject line of your
comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make
your comment submission available to the public in this docket.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove
identifying or contact information.
If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to
remove such information before making the comment submissions available
to the public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.
II. Further Information
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the
issuance of an Order under section 50.80 of Title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), approving the indirect transfer of
Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-39 and DPR-48 for Zion Nuclear
Power Station Units 1 and 2 (Zion), including the General License for
the Zion Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (``Zion ISFSI''),
currently held by ZionSolutions, LLC (ZS).
III. Introduction
By Order dated May 4, 2009, the NRC approved the transfer of
control of Zion from Exelon Generation Company, LLC (``Exelon'') to ZS,
and on September 1, 2010, the NRC issued license amendments to reflect
the transfer of the Zion licenses from Exelon to ZS on that date. The
decommissioning of Zion is actively underway, and pursuant to 10 CFR
50.82(a)(2), the operation of the Zion Units is no longer authorized
under the 10 CFR Part 50 licenses.
ZS, a wholly owned subsidiary of EnergySolutions LLC (ES), was
established solely for the purpose of acquiring the Zion Units and
causing the Zion site (except for the Zion ISFSI where the spent fuel
and Greater than Class C radioactive waste will be stored) to be
decommissioned and released for unrestricted use, while maintaining the
spent nuclear fuel and Greater than Class C radioactive waste safely
stored in the ZNPS ISFSI. ES LLC and ES guaranteed the performance of
ZS's decommissioning obligations and obtained a $200 million letter of
credit, payable to a back-up nuclear decommissioning trust (``Back-Up
NDT''). In addition, ES LLC has granted an irrevocable easement to
disposal capacity at its Clive, Utah facility for the disposal of Class
A low level waste from the Zion site, and this disposal capacity asset,
together with related contractual rights, are held by the Back-Up NDT.
According to an application for approval dated January 10, 2013
(ADAMS Accession No. ML13014A007), ZS is requesting that the NRC
consent to the indirect transfer of control of Facility Operating
License Nos. DPR-39 and DPR-48 for Zion held by ZS, including the
General License for the Zion ISFSI, to the extent required. The
indirect transfer of control would result from a proposed transaction
whereby the ultimate parent holding company of ZS, ES, would be
acquired by Rockwell Holdco, Inc., a Delaware corporation that was
formed for the purpose of acquiring ES and is held by certain
investment fund entities organized by controlled affiliates of Energy
Capital Partners II, LLC.
While the proposed transaction will result in an indirect transfer
of control of ZS and the Zion Licenses held by ZS, no changes to the
current technical qualifications, financial assurances, or operations,
of ZS as the NRC's licensee for Zion are being proposed in the
application. Further, the closing of the transaction and the indirect
upstream change of control resulting therefrom will not result in any
change in personnel responsible for conducting licensed activities.
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 indirect
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.
Before issuance of the proposed order, the Commission will have
made findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended
(The Act), and the Commission's regulations.
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.
III. Opportunity To Request a Hearing; Petition for Leave To Intervene
Requirements for hearing requests and petitions for leave to
intervene are found in 10 CFR 2.309, ``Hearing requests, petitions to
intervene, requirements for standing, and contentions.'' Interested
persons should consult 10 CFR 2.309, which is available at the NRC's
PDR, located at O1-F21,
[[Page 11906]]
One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852 (or
call the PDR at 800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737). The NRC's regulations
are available online in the NRC Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/.
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 and who wishes to participate as a party in the
proceeding must file a written request for hearing and petition for
leave to intervene via electronic submission through the NRC's E-Filing
system. As required by the Commission's rules of practice at 10 CFR
2.309, a petition for leave to intervene shall set forth with
particularity the interest of the petitioner in the proceeding and how
that interest may be affected by the results of the proceeding. The
petition must provide the name, address, and telephone number of the
petitioner and specifically explain the reasons why intervention should
be permitted with particular reference to the following factors: (1)
The nature of the petitioner's right under the Act to be made a party
to the proceeding; (2) the nature and extent of the petitioner's
property, financial, or other interest in the proceeding; and (3) the
possible effect of any order that may be entered in the proceeding on
the petitioner's interest.
A petition for leave to intervene must also include a specification
of the contentions that the petitioner seeks to have litigated in the
hearing. For each contention, the petitioner must provide a specific
statement of the issue of law or fact to be raised or controverted, as
well as a brief explanation of the basis for the contention.
Additionally, the petitioner must demonstrate that the issue raised by
each contention is within the scope of the proceeding and is material
to the findings the NRC must make to support the granting of the
transfer of control of the license in response to the application. The
petition must also include a concise statement of the alleged facts or
expert opinions which support the position of the petitioner and on
which the petitioner intends to rely at hearing, together with
references to the specific sources and documents on which the
petitioner intends to rely. Finally, the petition must provide
sufficient information to show that a genuine dispute exists with the
applicant on a material issue of law or fact, including references to
specific portions of the application for amendment that the petitioner
disputes and the supporting reasons for each dispute, or, if the
petitioner believes that the application for amendment fails to contain
information on a relevant matter as required by law, the identification
of each failure and the supporting reasons for the petitioner's belief.
Each contention must be one that, if proven, would entitle the
petitioner to relief.
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 with respect to resolution of that person's admitted
contentions, including the opportunity to present evidence and to
submit a cross-examination plan for cross-examination of witnesses,
consistent with the NRC regulations, policies, and procedures. The
Licensing Board will set the time and place for any pre-hearing
conferences and evidentiary hearings, and the appropriate notices will
be provided.
Requests for hearing, petitions for leave to intervene, and motions
for leave to file new or amended contentions that are filed after the
20-day deadline will not be entertained absent a determination by the
presiding officer that the filing demonstrates good cause by satisfying
the following three factors in 10 CFR 2.309(c)(1): (i) The information
upon which the filing is based was not previously available; (ii) the
information upon which the filing is based is materially different from
information previously available; and (iii) the filing has been
submitted in a timely fashion based on the availability of the
subsequent information.
A State, local governmental body, Federally-recognized Indian
tribe, or agency thereof may submit a petition to the Commission to
participate as a party under 10 CFR 2.309(h)(1) and (2). The petition
should state the nature and extent of the petitioner's interest in the
proceeding. The petition should be submitted to the Commission by March
12, 2013. The petition must be filed in accordance with the filing
instructions in section III of this document, and should meet the
requirements for petitions for leave to intervene set forth in this
section, except that under 2.309(h)(2) a State, local governmental
body, or Federally-recognized Indian tribe does not need to address the
standing requirements in 10 CFR 2.309(d) if the facility is located
within its boundaries. A State, local governmental body, Federally-
recognized Indian tribe, or agency thereof may also have the
opportunity to participate under 10 CFR 2.315(c).
If a hearing is granted, any person who does not wish to become a
party to the proceeding may, in the discretion of the presiding
officer, be permitted to make a limited appearance under 10 CFR
2.315(a), by making an oral or written statement of his or her position
on the issues at any session of the hearing or at any pre-hearing
conference, within the limits and conditions fixed by the presiding
officer. However, that person may not otherwise participate in the
proceeding.
IV. Electronic Submissions (E-Filing)
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 (72 FR 49139;
August 28, 2007). The E-Filing process requires participants to submit
and serve all adjudicatory 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 an exemption in
accordance with the procedures described below.
To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at least 10
days prior to the filing deadline, the participant should contact the
Office of the Secretary by email at [email protected], or by
telephone at 301-415-1677, to (1) request a digital identification (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 (2) advise
the Secretary that the participant will be submitting a request or
petition for hearing (even in instances in which the participant, or
its counsel or representative, already holds an NRC-issued digital ID
certificate). Based upon this information, the Secretary will establish
an electronic docket for the hearing in this proceeding if the
Secretary has not already established an electronic docket.
Information about applying for a digital ID certificate is
available on the NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/apply-certificates.html. System requirements for accessing
the E-Submittal server are detailed in the NRC's ``Guidance for
Electronic Submission,'' which is available on the NRC's public Web
site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-
[[Page 11907]]
submittals.html. Participants may attempt to use other software not
listed on the Web site, but should note that the NRC's E-Filing system
does not support unlisted software, and the NRC Meta System Help Desk
will not be able to offer assistance in using unlisted software.
If a participant is electronically submitting a document to the NRC
in accordance with the E-Filing rule, the participant must file the
document using the NRC's online, Web-based submission form. In order to
serve documents through the Electronic Information Exchange System,
users will be required to install a Web browser plug-in from the NRC's
Web site. Further information on the Web-based submission form,
including the installation of the Web browser plug-in, is available on
the NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html.
Once a participant has obtained a digital ID certificate and a
docket has been created, the participant can then submit a request for
hearing or petition for leave to intervene. Submissions should be in
Portable Document Format (PDF) in accordance with the NRC guidance
available on the NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html. A filing is considered complete at the time the
documents are submitted through the NRC's E-Filing system. To be
timely, an electronic filing must be submitted to the E-Filing 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 email notice confirming receipt of the document. The
E-Filing system also distributes an email notice that provides access
to the document to the NRC's 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 using the NRC's adjudicatory E-
Filing system may seek assistance by contacting the NRC Meta System
Help Desk through the ``Contact Us'' link located on the NRC's public
Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html, by email to
[email protected], or by a toll-free call to 1-866-672-7640. The
NRC Meta System Help Desk is available between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.,
Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, excluding government holidays.
Participants who believe that they have a good cause for not
submitting documents electronically must file an exemption request, 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. A presiding officer, having
granted an exemption request from using E-Filing, may require a
participant or party to use E-Filing if the presiding officer
subsequently determines that the reason for granting the exemption from
use of E-Filing no longer exists.
Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in the
NRC's electronic hearing docket which is available to the public at
http://ehd1.nrc.gov/ehd/, unless excluded pursuant to an order of the
Commission, or the 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, unless an NRC
regulation or other law requires submission of such information. 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 submission.
Attorney for applicant: John E. Matthews, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
LLP, 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20004, 202.739.5524,
[email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 11th day of February 2013.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Andrew Persinko,
Deputy Director, Decommissioning and Uranium Recovery Licensing
Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection,
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management
Programs.
[FR Doc. 2013-03859 Filed 2-19-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P