[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 56 (Thursday, March 22, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12616-12617]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-05873]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-482; License No. NPF-42; NRC-2017-0217]
In the Matter of Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation; Wolf
Creek Generating Station, Unit 1
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Indirect transfer of license; order.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an
order approving indirect license transfer of control of Renewed
Facility Operating License No. NPF-42 for the Wolf Creek Generating
Station, Unit 1 (WCGS). The indirect transfer of control will result
from the proposed merger of two indirect owners of Wolf Creek Nuclear
Operating Corporation (WCNOC) and WCGS--Westar Energy, Inc. and Great
Plains Energy Incorporated, and subsidiaries created to effectuate the
transaction. The new entity, Monarch Energy Holding, Inc., through its
subsidiaries, will have a 94 percent interest in WCNOC and WCGS. The
remaining 6 percent ownership interest in WCNOC and WCGS held by Kansas
Electric Power Cooperative, Inc., will be unaffected. WCNOC will
continue to be the operator of WCGS.
DATES: The Order was issued on March 12, 2018, and is effective for 1
year.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0217 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0217. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-
9127; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection 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 (if it is available
in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned in this
document. The order was issued to the licensee in a letter dated March
12, 2018, and it is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML18040A666.
[[Page 12617]]
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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Balwant K. Singal, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-3016, email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of the Order is attached.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, on March 19, 2018.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Balwant K. Singal,
Senior Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch IV, Division of
Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
Attachment--Order Approving Indirect Transfer of License
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Docket No. 50-482; License No. NPF-42
In the Matter of Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation
Wolf Creek Generating Station, Unit 1
ORDER APPROVING INDIRECT TRANSFER OF LICENSE
I.
Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation (WCNOC) is the holder
of the Renewed Facility Operating License (FOL) No. NPF[dash]42 for
the Wolf Creek Generating Station, Unit 1 (WCGS) authorized to
possess, use, and operate WCGS. WCGS is located in Coffey County,
Kansas.
II.
Pursuant to Section 184 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as
amended (the Act), and Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations
(10 CFR) Section 50.80, ``Transfer of licenses,'' WCNOC requested
consent from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the
Commission) to the indirect transfer of control of Renewed FOL No.
NPF[dash]42 for the WCGS by application dated September 5, 2017.
WCNOC is the licensed operator of WCGS and Kansas City Power &
Light Company (KCP&L), Kansas Gas and Electric Company (KG&E), and
Kansas Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (KEPCo) are the three non-
operating owner licensees. KCP&L and KG&E each hold a 47 percent
undivided interest in WCGS and 47 percent of the stock of WCNOC.
KEPCo holds the remaining 6 percent interest. KCP&L is a subsidiary
of Great Plains Energy Incorporated (Great Plains) and KG&E is a
subsidiary of Westar Energy, Inc. (Westar). The indirect license
transfer will result from the proposed merger transaction involving
Great Plains and Westar pursuant to the terms of the Amended and
Restated Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated July 9, 2017
(Attachment 2 to the letter dated September 5, 2017) (Amended Merger
Agreement). Under this agreement, the transaction will occur in the
following three simultaneous steps:
In step 1, Great Plains will merge with its wholly-owned
subsidiary, which was created to effectuate the transaction, named
Monarch Energy Holding, Inc. \1\ (Holdco), with Holdco continuing as
the surviving corporation.
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\1\ The name of the holding company Monarch Energy Holding, Inc.
may be changed before or following the closing of the proposed
transaction.
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In step 2, Westar will merge with a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Holdco, named King Energy, Inc., which was also created to
effectuate the transaction, with Westar continuing as the surviving
corporation.
In step 3, each share of common stock of Great Plains and Westar
issued and outstanding at that time (subject to certain defined
exceptions) will be converted automatically into the right to
receive the merger consideration consisting of a number of shares of
common stock of Holdco as determined by the applicable exchange
ratio specified in the Amended Merger Agreement. Thus the current
shareholders of Great Plains and Westar will become the shareholders
of Holdco after the transaction.
The current 6 percent owner of WCGS and WCNOC, KEPCo, the third
non-operating owner licensee, is not a party to this transaction and
will remain a 6 percent owner post-transaction.
At the conclusion of the transaction, Holdco, whose shareholders
will be comprised of the shareholders in Great Plains and Westar,
will own all the direct and indirect subsidiaries previously held by
Great Plains, including KCP&L, and will also own Westar and all of
its direct and indirect subsidiaries, including KG&E. As a result,
Holdco will indirectly own 94 percent of WCGS and WCNOC.
The current and post-transaction ownership structure of the
facility is depicted in the simplified organization charts provided
in Figures 1 and 2 of Attachment 1 to the letter dated September 5,
2017.
No physical changes to the WCGS or operational changes are being
proposed in the application. WCNOC will continue to be the operator
of WCGS with the same management team as in effect prior to the
consummation of the proposed merger.
In response to the submission of the indirect license transfer
application, the NRC published in the Federal Register a notice
entitled, ``Wolf Creek Generating Station: Consideration of Approval
of Transfer of License,'' on November 15, 2017 (82 FR 52946). No
comments or hearing requests were received.
Under 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 NRC gives its consent in writing. Upon
review of the information in the licensee's application, and other
information before the Commission, the NRC staff has determined that
WCNOC is qualified to hold the license following the proposed merger
of Great Plains with Holdco, with Holdco as the surviving
corporation, and Westar with King Energy Inc., with Westar as the
surviving corporation. KCP&L and KG&E will each continue to hold
their respective 47 percent interests in WCNOC and WCGS post-merger.
Following the merger, Holdco will indirectly own a combined interest
of WCGS of 94 percent. The current shareholders of Great Plains and
Westar will become the shareholders of Holdco after the transaction.
The NRC staff has also determined that the proposed indirect license
transfer is otherwise consistent with the applicable provisions of
law, regulations, and orders issued by the Commission pursuant
thereto.
The findings set forth above are supported by an NRC safety
evaluation dated March 12, 2018.
III.
Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 161b, 161i, and 184 of the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), 42 USC Sec. Sec.
2201(b), 2201(i), and 2234; and 10 CFR 50.80, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED
that the application regarding the proposed indirect license
transfer is approved.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, after receipt of all required
regulatory approvals of the proposed indirect transfer action, WCNOC
shall inform the Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation in writing of such receipt, and of the date of closing of
the transfer, no later than 5 business days prior to the date of the
closing of the indirect license transfer. Should the proposed
indirect license transfer not be completed within 1 year of this
Order's date of issuance, this Order shall become null and void,
provided, however, upon written application and for 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
application dated September 5, 2017 (Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML17255A222), and the NRC
safety evaluation dated the same date as this Order (ADAMS Accession
No. ML18040A666), which are 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 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 e-mail to [email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 12th day of March 2018.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
/RA/
Joseph G. Giitter,
Director, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2018-05873 Filed 3-21-18; 8:45 am]
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