[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 190 (Tuesday, October 1, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52146-52148]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-21303]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-409 and 72-046; EA-19-077; NRC-2019-0110]


In the Matter of Dairyland Power Cooperative; La Crosse Boiling 
Water Reactor

AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Direct transfer of license; order.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an 
order approving the direct transfer of Possession Only License No. DPR-
45 for the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor (LACBWR), with respect to 
NRC-licensed possession, maintenance, and decommissioning authorities, 
from the current holder, LaCrosseSolutions, LLC (LS), to Dairyland 
Power Cooperative (DPC), which held these authorities prior to 
transferring them to LS on June 1, 2016, and which is currently the 
licensed owner of LACBWR. The NRC is also amending the facility 
operating license for administrative purposes to reflect the license 
transfer from LS to DPC. The NRC determined that DPC is qualified to be 
the holder of the license and that the transfer of the license is 
otherwise consistent with applicable provisions of law, regulations, 
and orders issued by the Commission. The Order approving the transfer 
of the LACBWR license to DPC became effective on September 24, 2019.

DATES: The Order was issued on September 24, 2019, and is effective for 
one year.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2019-0110 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 https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2019-0110. Address 
questions about NRC docket IDs in Regulations.gov 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 https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, 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 license transfer Order, the NRC 
safety evaluation supporting the staff's findings, and the conforming 
license amendment are available in ADAMS under Accession Nos. 
ML19008A396, ML19008A397, and ML19008A394, respectively.
     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: Marlayna Vaaler Doell, Office of 
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-3178; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of the Order is attached.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of September, 2019.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John W. Lubinski,
Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.

Attachment--Order Approving the Transfer of License and Conforming 
Amendment

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

    In the Matter of LaCrosseSolutions, LLC, La Crosse Boiling Water 
Reactor EA-19-077

Docket Nos.: 50-409 and 72-046

License No.: DPR-45

ORDER APPROVING THE TRANSFER OF LICENSE AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT

I.

    LaCrosseSolutions, LLC (LS) is the holder of Possession Only 
License No. DPR-45, with respect to the possession, maintenance, and 
decommissioning of the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor (LACBWR). LACBWR 
was an Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Demonstration Project Reactor 
that first achieved criticality in 1967, that commenced commercial 
operation in

[[Page 52147]]

November 1969, and that was capable of producing 50 megawatts of 
electricity. LACBWR is located on the east bank of the Mississippi 
River in Vernon County, Wisconsin, about 1 mile south of the Village of 
Genoa, Wisconsin, and approximately 19 miles south of the city of La 
Crosse, Wisconsin, and is co-located with the Genoa Generating Station 
(Genoa 3), which is a coal-fired power plant that is still in 
operation. The Allis-Chalmers Company was the original licensee of 
LACBWR; the AEC later sold the plant to the Dairyland Power Cooperative 
(DPC) and granted it Provisional Operating License No. DPR-45 on August 
28, 1973.
    LACBWR permanently ceased operations on April 30, 1987. DPC applied 
to amend the LACBWR license to a possession-only license on May 22, 
1987, and completed reactor defueling on June 11, 1987. In a letter 
dated August 4, 1987, the NRC terminated DPC's authority to operate 
LACBWR and granted the licensee possess-but-not-operate status. By 
letter dated August 18, 1988, the NRC amended DPC's license to reflect 
the permanently defueled configuration at LACBWR.
    The NRC issued an order authorizing the decommissioning of LACBWR 
and approving the licensee's proposed Decommissioning Plan (DP) on 
August 7, 1991. Because the NRC approved DPC's DP before August 28, 
1996 (the effective date of an NRC final rule concerning power reactor 
decommissioning (61 FR 39278; July 29, 1996)), the DP is considered the 
Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) for LACBWR. The 
PSDAR public meeting was held on May 13, 1998, and subsequent updates 
to the LACBWR decommissioning report have combined the DP and PSDAR 
into the ``LACBWR Decommissioning Plan and Post-Shutdown 
Decommissioning Activities Report.'' DPC constructed an onsite 
Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) and completed the 
movement of all 333 spent nuclear fuel elements from the Fuel Element 
Storage Well to dry cask storage at the ISFSI by September 19, 2012.
    By order dated May 20, 2016, the NRC approved the direct transfer 
of Possession Only License No. DPR-45 for LACBWR from DPC to LS, a 
wholly-owned subsidiary of EnergySolutions, LLC, which was created for 
the sole purpose of completing the dismantlement and remediation 
activities at the LACBWR site. The order was published in the Federal 
Register on June 2, 2016 (81 FR 35383). The transfer assigned DPC's 
NRC-licensed possession, maintenance, and decommissioning authorities 
for LACBWR to LS in order to implement expedited decommissioning at the 
LACBWR site. Final decommissioning activities at LACBWR are scheduled 
to be completed in 2019 and the LACBWR License Termination Plan (LTP) 
was approved by the NRC on May 21, 2019.

II.

    By letter dated June 27, 2018 (Agencywide Documents Access and 
Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML18184A444), as supplemented 
by letter dated December 3, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18341A138), LS 
and DPC (collectively, the applicants) submitted an application, 
pursuant to Section 184 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, 
and Section 50.80, ``Transfer of licenses,'' of Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), requesting NRC consent for the direct 
transfer of LS's Possession Only License No. DPR-45 for LACBWR to DPC. 
Specifically, LS intends to transfer its NRC-licensed possession, 
maintenance, and decommissioning authorities back to DPC upon the 
completion of decommissioning activities at the LACBWR site.
    DPC is currently the licensed owner of LACBWR; it holds title to 
and ownership of the real estate encompassing most of the LACBWR site, 
as well as lease hold interests for the remaining portions of the site; 
title to and ownership of the spent nuclear fuel; and title to and 
ownership of all improvements at the LACBWR site. LS currently 
maintains a lease for the above-ground LACBWR structures (other than 
the LACBWR ISFSI) and previously assumed responsibility for all NRC-
licensed activities at the LACBWR site, including responsibility under 
the license to complete decommissioning. LS will relinquish any 
remaining lease rights it holds at the site upon the completion of 
decommissioning.
    Upon the execution of the license transfer, DPC will maintain the 
onsite ISFSI and the ultimate disposition of the spent nuclear fuel 
will be provided for under the terms of DPC's Standard Contract for 
Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and/or High Level Waste with the U.S. 
Department of Energy. DPC will also continue to maintain its nuclear 
decommissioning trust, an external trust in which funds are segregated 
from its assets and outside its administrative control, in accordance 
with the requirements of 10 CFR 50.75(e)(1).
    The application also requested approval of a conforming amendment 
to the license pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80 and 10 CFR 50.90, ``Application 
for amendment of license, construction permit, or early site permit.'' 
No physical or operational changes to the facility were requested 
beyond those encompassed in the LACBWR PSDAR and LTP. Notice of the 
application was published in the Federal Register on October 11, 2018 
(83 FR 51509). The supplemental letter dated December 3, 2018, provided 
additional information that clarified the application, did not expand 
the scope of the application as originally noticed, and did not change 
the NRC staff's no significant hazards consideration determination. No 
requests for hearing or comments were received.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80, no license, or any right thereunder, 
shall be transferred, either voluntarily or involuntarily, directly or 
indirectly, through transfer of control of the license to any person, 
unless the Commission gives its consent in writing. Upon review of the 
information in the application and other information before the 
Commission, and relying upon the representations and agreements 
contained in the application, the NRC staff has determined that DPC is 
qualified to be the holder of the license and that the transfer of the 
license to DPC, as described in the application, is otherwise 
consistent with applicable provisions of law, regulations, and orders 
issued by the Commission pursuant thereto, subject to the condition set 
forth below.
    Upon review of the application for a conforming amendment to the 
LACBWR license to reflect the transfer to DPC, the NRC staff determined 
the following:
    (1) The application for the proposed license amendment complies 
with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 
as amended (the Act), and the Commission's rules and regulations set 
forth in 10 CFR Chapter I.
    (2) There is reasonable assurance that the activities authorized by 
the proposed license amendment can be conducted without endangering the 
health and safety of the public, and that such activities will be 
conducted in compliance with the Commission's regulations.
    (3) The issuance of the proposed license amendment will not be 
inimical to the common defense and security or to the health and safety 
of the public.
    (4) The issuance of the proposed license amendment is in accordance 
with 10 CFR part 51, ``Environmental Protection Regulations for 
Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions,'' of the 
Commission's

[[Page 52148]]

regulations and all applicable requirements have been satisfied.
    The findings set forth above are supported by an NRC safety 
evaluation dated September 24, 2019, which is available at ADAMS 
Accession No. ML19008A397.

III.

    Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 161b, 161i, and 184 of the Act, 
42 U.S.C. Sections 2201(b), 2201(i), and 2234; and 10 CFR 50.80, it is 
hereby ordered that the transfer of the license, as described herein, 
to DPC is approved, subject to the following condition:

    Prior to the closing of the license transfer from LS to DPC, DPC 
shall provide satisfactory documentary evidence to the Director of 
the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) at the 
NRC that it has obtained or continues to possess the appropriate 
amount of insurance required of a licensee under 10 CFR 140.12 and 
10 CFR 50.54(w) of the Commission's regulations, consistent with the 
exemptions issued to LACBWR on June 26, 1986, and July 24, 2018.

    It is further ordered that, consistent with 10 CFR 2.1315(b), the 
license amendment that makes changes, as indicated in Enclosure 2 to 
the cover letter forwarding this Order, to conform the license to 
reflect the subject direct license transfer is approved. The amendment 
shall be issued and made effective at the time the proposed direct 
license transfer is completed.
    It is further ordered that, after receipt of all required 
regulatory approvals of the proposed direct license transfer, DPC shall 
inform the Director of NMSS in writing of such receipt, and of the date 
of closing of the transfer, no later than 2 business days prior to the 
date of closing of the direct license transfer. Should the proposed 
direct license transfer not be completed within 1 year of this Order's 
date of issuance, this Order shall become null and void; provided, 
however, that 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 June 27, 2018, as supplemented by letter dated December 3, 2018, 
and the associated NRC safety evaluation dated September 24, 2019, 
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 encounter problems with 
ADAMS should contact the NRC's 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 24th day of September 2019.

    For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

John W. Lubinski,

Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.

[FR Doc. 2019-21303 Filed 9-30-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P