[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 235 (Friday, December 6, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66935-66936]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-26352]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-295, 50-304, and 72-1037; NRC-2019-0236]
In the Matter of ZionSolutions, LLC and Exelon Generation
Company, LLC; Zion Nuclear Power Station, Units 1 and 2
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 Facility Operating License Nos.
DPR-39 and DPR-48 for Zion Nuclear Power Station (ZNPS), Units 1 and 2,
respectively, and the general license for the ZNPS independent spent
fuel storage installation (ISFSI) from the current holder,
ZionSolutions, LLC (ZS), to Exelon Generation Company, LLC (EGC). The
NRC is also amending the facility operating licenses for administrative
purposes to reflect the license transfer from ZS to EGC. The NRC
determined that EGC is qualified to be the holder of the licenses and
that the transfer of the licenses is otherwise consistent with
applicable provisions of law, regulations, and orders issued by the
Commission. The order approving the transfer of the ZNPS licenses to
EGC became effective on November 26, 2019.
DATES: The order was issued on November 26, 2019, and is effective for
one year.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2019-0236 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-2019-0236. 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 http://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 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.
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: John B. Hickman, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-3017; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of the order is attached.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 3rd day of December 2019.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John B. Hickman,
Project Manager, Reactor Decommissioning Branch, Division of
Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery, and Waste Programs, Office of
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
Attachment--Order Approving the Transfer of Licenses and Conforming
Amendments
United States of America
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
In the Matter of: ZionSolutions, LLC, and Exelon Generation
Company, LLC, Zion Nuclear Power Station, Units 1 and 2, EA-19-125.
Docket Nos. 50-295, 50-304, and 72-1037
License Nos. DPR-39 and DPR-48
Order Approving Transfer of Licenses and Conforming Amendments
I.
ZionSolutions, LLC (ZS) is the holder of Facility Operating
License Nos. DPR-39 and DRP-48 for Zion Nuclear Power Station
(ZNPS), Units 1 and 2, respectively, and the general license for the
ZNPS independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI). ZS is
authorized to possess and maintain ZNPS and the ZNPS ISFSI, which
are located in Zion, Illinois. ZNPS is located on the west shore of
lake Michigan approximately midway between Chicago, Illinois and
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
ZNPS Units 1 and 2 were both Westinghouse 3250 MWt pressurized-
water reactors. Unit 1 was granted an operating license on October
19, 1973 and was shut down on February 21, 1997. Unit 2 was granted
an operating license on November 14, 1973 and was shut down on
September 19, 1996.
In February 1998, pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) Part 50.82(a)(1)(i), the ZNPS licensee certified
to the NRC that as of February 13, 1998, operations had permanently
ceased at ZNPS and subsequently certified pursuant to 10 CFR
50.82(a)(1)(ii) that all fuel had been permanently removed from the
units' reactor vessels (Agencywide Documents Access and Management
System [ADAMS] Accession Nos. ML15232A492 and ML15232A487). Pursuant
to 10 CFR 50.82(a)(2), operations or emplacement of fuel into the
reactor vessels at ZNPS are no longer authorized under the licenses.
On January 25, 2008, the ZNPS licensee submitted an application to
transfer the ZNPS licenses from Exelon Generation Company, LLC (EGC)
to ZS for the purpose of expedited decommissioning (ADAMS Accession
No. ML080310521). The NRC consented to the license transfer on May
4, 2009 (ADAMS Accession No. ML090930037). Spent fuel transfer from
the Spent Fuel Pool (SFP) to the ISFSI was completed on January 10,
2015. As of September 2019, the ZNPS site was in the final stages of
radiological decommissioning, environmental remediation, and site
restoration.
II.
By letter dated July 24, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18211A303),
as supplemented by letters dated January 21, 2019 (ADAMS Accession
No. ML19028A175) and February 8, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML19043A673), ZS requested, on behalf of itself and EGC
(collectively, the applicants), pursuant to Section 184 of the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and Section 50.80, ``Transfer
of licenses,'' of 10 CFR, that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC, the Commission) consent to the transfer to EGC of
Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-39 and DPR-48 for ZNPS, Units 1
and 2, respectively, and the generally licensed ZNPS ISFSI, which
are currently held by ZS. Specifically, ZS intends to transfer its
NRC-licensed possession, maintenance, and decommissioning
authorities back to EGC upon the completion of the decommissioning
activities at the ZNPS site. The application proposed no physical or
operational changes to the facilities.
The NRC published a notice, ``Zion Nuclear Power Station, Units
1 and 2: Zion Solutions, LLC, Application for direct transfer of
facility operating license and conforming amendment; opportunity to
comment, request a hearing, and petition for leave to intervene,''
in the Federal Register on September 24, 2018 (83 FR 48343). 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 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 EGC is
[[Page 66936]]
qualified to hold the licenses. The NRC staff has also determined
that the proposed license transfer is otherwise consistent with the
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 conforming amendments to the
ZNPS licenses to reflect the transfer to EGC, the NRC staff
determined the following:
(1) The application for the proposed license amendments 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 amendments 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 amendments 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 amendments is in
accordance with 10 CFR part 51 of the Commission's regulations and
all applicable requirements have been satisfied.
The findings set forth above are supported by an NRC safety
evaluation dated November 26, 2019, which is available at ADAMS
Accession No. ML19228A131.
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 application regarding the
proposed license transfer is approved, subject to the following
condition:
Prior to the consummation of the license transfer from ZS to
EGC, EGC shall provide satisfactory documentary evidence to the
Director of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards at
the NRC that it has obtained or continues to possess the appropriate
amount of insurance required of a licensee under 10 CFR part 140 and
10 CFR 50.54(w), consistent with the exemptions issued to ZNPS on
December 21, 1999.
It is further ordered that, consistent with 10 CFR 2.1315(b),
the license amendments that make changes, as indicated in Enclosure
2 to the cover letter forwarding this Order, to conform the licenses
to reflect the subject license transfer are approved. The amendments
shall be issued and made effective at the time the proposed license
transfer is completed.
It is further ordered that, after receipt of all required
regulatory approvals of the proposed transfer action, EGC shall
inform the Director of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and
Safeguards in writing of such receipt, and of the date of closing of
the transfer, no later than 5 business days before the date of the
closing of the transfer. Should the proposed 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 July 24, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18211A303),
the supplements dated January 21, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML19028A175) and February 8, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML
19043A673), and the NRC's safety evaluation dated November 26, 2019
(ADAMS Accession No. ML19228A131), which are available for public
inspection at the NRC's Public Document Room 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 accessing
the documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC Public
Document Room reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-
415-4737 or by email to [email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of November, 2019.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
/RA/
John W. Lubinski, Director,
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2019-26352 Filed 12-5-19; 8:45 a.m.]
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