In the Matter of: Consumers Energy Company (Big Rock Point Facility); Order Approving Transfer of License and Conforming Amendment, 19055-19057 [E7-7208]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 72 (Monday, April 16, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19055-19057]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-7208]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos.: 50-155; 72-043; License No. DPR-06]


In the Matter of: Consumers Energy Company (Big Rock Point 
Facility); Order Approving Transfer of License and Conforming Amendment

I.

    Consumers Energy Company (Consumers) is the holder of Facility

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Operating License No. DPR-06, which authorizes the possession and use 
of the Big Rock Point site (Big Rock), and an onsite Independent Spent 
Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) under a general license, SFGL-16, 
granted pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), 
Sec.  72.210. Consumers is licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC, the Commission) to operate the Big Rock ISFSI. The 
facility is located at the licensee's site in Charlevoix, Michigan. In 
2006, Consumers completed decommissioning and decontamination of the 
majority of the land on the site. On April 3, 2006, Consumers informed 
the Commission of its intent to release approximately 475 acres of land 
from the operating license, in accordance with the Big Rock license 
termination plan. Consumers submitted its final status survey report on 
November 2006, and NRC approved the release of the land in a letter to 
the licensee dated January 8, 2007. The only asset remaining subject to 
the license is a parcel of land of approximately 30 acres within which 
the ISFSI itself resides, and an additional parcel of approximately 75 
acres adjacent to the ISFSI.

II.

    By letter dated October 31, 2006, Consumers, Entergy Nuclear 
Palisades, LLC (ENP), and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (ENO) 
(collectively, ``the applicants'') submitted an application requesting 
approval of the direct transfer of Consumers' interest in Big Rock 
Facility Operating License DPR-06 and general ISFSI License No. SFGL-16 
to ENP to possess and own, and ENO, to control and operate, the Big 
Rock ISFSI and certain additional lands.
    Consumers, ENP, and ENO also requested approval of a conforming 
license amendment that would replace references to Consumers in the 
license with references to ENP and ENO to reflect the direct transfer 
of ownership, and revise paragraph 1.A in the license to be consistent 
with paragraph 2 regarding the disposition of the Facility Operating 
License. No physical changes to the facilities or operational changes 
were proposed in the application. After completion of the proposed 
transfer, ENP and ENO would be the owner and operator, respectively, of 
Big Rock and the ISFSI.
    Approval of the transfer of the facility operating license and 
conforming license amendment is requested pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80 and 
72.50. Notice of the request for approval and opportunity for a hearing 
were published in the Federal Register on January 30, 2007 (72 FR 4302-
4303). A petition for leave to intervene pursuant to 10 CFR 2.309 was 
received from Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Do Not Waste 
Michigan, and Mr. Victor McManemy. The petition is under consideration 
by the Commission.
    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. Pursuant to 10 CFR 72.50, no license or any part included in a 
license issued under this part for an ISFSI shall be transferred, 
assigned, or in any matter disposed of, 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 ENP is qualified to hold the ownership interests in the 
facility previously held by Consumers, and ENO is qualified to hold the 
operating authority under the license, and that the transfers of 
ownership and operating interests in the facility to ENP and ENO, 
respectively, described in the application is otherwise consistent with 
applicable provisions of law, regulations, and orders issued by the 
Commission, subject to the condition set forth below. The NRC staff has 
further found that 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. The facility will operate in 
conformity with the applications, the provisions of the Act and the 
rules and regulations of the Commission; 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, or 
the environment, and that such activities will be conducted in 
compliance with the Commission's regulations; 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, or the 
environment; and the issuance of the proposed amendment will be 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 NRC's Safety 
Evaluation Report dated April 6, 2007.

III.

    Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 161b, 161i, and 184 of the Act; 
42 U.S.C. 2201(b), 2201(i), and 2234; 10 CFR 50.80 and 10 CFR 72.50, It 
is hereby ordered that the direct transfer of the license, as described 
herein, to ENP and ENO is approved, subject to the following condition:

    Prior to completion of the transfer of the license, Entergy 
shall provide the Directors of the Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation and the Office of Federal and State Materials and 
Environmental Management Programs satisfactory documentary evidence 
that it has obtained the appropriate amount of insurance required of 
licensees under 10 CFR Part 140 of the Commission's regulations.

    It is further ordered that, consistent with 10 CFR 2.1315(b), 
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 ENP and ENO shall inform the Directors 
of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation and the Office of Federal 
and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs in writing of 
the date of closing of the transfer of the Consumers interest in Big 
Rock to ENP and ENO, at least 1 business day prior to closing. Should 
the transfer of the license not be completed within one 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 initial 
application dated October 31, 2006, and the Safety Evaluation Report 
dated April 6, 2007, which are available for public inspection at the 
Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint 
North, Public File Area 01 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), 
Rockville, Maryland and accessible electronically from the Agencywide 
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic 
Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, https://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

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telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 6th day of April, 2007.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Charles L. Miller,
Director, Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental 
Management Programs.
 [FR Doc. E7-7208 Filed 4-13-07; 8:45 am]
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