Notice of Consideration of Approval of Transfer of Facility Operating License for Zion Nuclear Power Station Units 1 and 2 and Conforming Amendment and Opportunity for a Hearing, 29540-29541 [E8-11353]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 99 (Wednesday, May 21, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29540-29541]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-11353]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-295 and 50-304]


Notice of Consideration of Approval of Transfer of Facility 
Operating License for Zion Nuclear Power Station Units 1 and 2 and 
Conforming Amendment and Opportunity for a Hearing

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of application for approval of a license transfer and 
conforming amendment and opportunity for a hearing and to provide 
written comments.

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DATES: A request for a hearing must be filed by June 10, 2008.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John B. Hickman, Project Manager, 
Reactor Decommissioning Branch, Division of Waste Management and 
Environmental Protection, Office of Federal and State Materials and 
Environmental Management Programs, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555. Telephone: (301) 415-3017; Fax number: (301) 415-
5370; e-mail: jbh@nrc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is 
considering the issuance of an Order under 10 CFR 50.80 approving the 
direct transfer of Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-39 and DPR-48 
for Zion Nuclear Power Station Units 1 and 2 (Zion) currently held by 
Exelon Generation Company, LLC (Exelon), as owner and licensed operator 
of Zion. The transfer would be to ZionSolutions, LLC (ZS), a wholly 
owned subsidiary of EnergySolutions (ES). The Commission is also 
considering amending the license for administrative purposes to reflect 
the proposed transfer. Such amendment would replace references to 
Exelon in the license with references to ZS and remove references to a 
prior license transfer from ComEd to Exelon.
    The application now being considered is dated January 25, 2008, and 
was filed by Exelon, ZS, and ES. According to the application, ZS would 
acquire ownership of the facility following approval of the proposed 
license transfer, and ZS would possess, use and maintain the 
permanently shut down and defueled Zion Station. Exelon would retain 
title to the real estate upon which Zion is sited, ownership of the 
spent nuclear fuel and Class C radioactive waste, and other 
improvements specified in the Asset Sale Agreement. After the transfer, 
ZS intends to decommission the Zion units. The application for transfer 
does not propose any physical or operational changes to the Zion 
facility. An NRC administrative review, documented in a letter sent to 
Exelon on February 21, 2008, found the application acceptable to begin 
a more detailed technical review.
    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 transfer of 
a license, if the Commission determines that the proposed transferee is 
qualified 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 conforming license amendment, the 
Commission will have made findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 
1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's regulations. An 
Environmental Assessment (EA) will not be performed because, pursuant 
to 10 CFR 51.22(c)(21), license transfer approvals and associated 
license amendments are categorically excluded from the requirements to 
perform an EA.
    As provided in 10 CFR 2.1315, unless otherwise determined by the 
Commission with regard to a specific application, the Commission has 
determined that any amendment to the license of a utilization facility 
which does no more than conform the license to reflect the transfer 
action involves no significant hazards consideration. No contrary 
determination has been made with respect to this specific license 
amendment application. In light of the generic determination reflected 
in 10 CFR 2.1315, no public comments with respect to significant 
hazards considerations are being solicited, notwithstanding the general 
comment procedures contained in 10 CFR 50.91.

II. Opportunity To Request a Hearing

    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 may request a hearing and intervention via electronic 
submission through the NRC E-filing system. Requests for a hearing and 
petitions for leave to intervene should be filed in accordance with the 
Commission's rules of practice set forth in Subpart C, ``Rules of 
General Applicability: Hearing Requests, Petitions To Intervene, 
Availability of Documents, Selection of Specific Hearing Procedures, 
Presiding Officer Powers, and General Hearing Management for NRC 
Adjudicatory Hearings,'' of 10 CFR Part 2. In particular, such requests 
and petitions must comply with the requirements set forth in 10 CFR 
2.309. Untimely requests and petitions may be denied, as provided in 10 
CFR 2.309(c)(1), unless good cause for failure to file on time is 
established. In addition, an untimely request or petition should 
address the factors that the Commission will also consider, in 
reviewing untimely requests or petitions, set forth in 10 CFR 
2.309(c)(1)(i)-(viii).
    A request for hearing or a petition for leave to intervene must be 
filed in accordance with the NRC E-Filing rule, which the NRC 
promulgated on August 28, 2007 (72 FR 49139). The E-Filing rule 
requires participants to submit and serve 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 a waiver in accordance with the procedures described below.
    To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at least 
five (5) days prior to the filing deadline, the petitioner/requestor 
must contact the Office of the Secretary by e-mail at 
HEARINGDOCKET@NRC.GOV, or by calling (301) 415-1677, to request (1) 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/or (2) creation of an electronic docket for the 
proceeding (even in instances in which the petitioner/requestor (or its 
counsel or representative) already holds an NRC-issued digital ID 
certificate). Each petitioner/requestor will need to download the 
Workplace Forms Viewer\TM\ to access the Electronic Information 
Exchange (EIE), a component of the E-Filing system. The Workplace Forms 
Viewer\TM\ is free and is available at https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-
submittals/install-viewer.html. Information about applying for a 
digital ID certificate is available on NRC's public Web site at https://
www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/apply-certificates.html.

[[Page 29541]]

    Once a petitioner/requestor has obtained a digital ID certificate, 
had a docket created, and downloaded the EIE viewer, it can then submit 
a request for hearing or petition for leave to intervene. Submissions 
should be in Portable Document Format (PDF) in accordance with NRC 
guidance available on the NRC public Web site at https://www.nrc.gov/
site-help/e-submittals.html. A filing is considered complete at the 
time the filer submits its documents through EIE. To be timely, an 
electronic filing must be submitted to the EIE 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 e-mail notice confirming receipt of the document. The 
EIE system also distributes an e-mail notice that provides access to 
the document to the NRC 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 may seek assistance through the 
``Contact Us'' link located on the NRC Web site at https://www.nrc.gov/
site-help/e-submittals.html or by calling the NRC technical help line, 
which is available between 8:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., Eastern Time, 
Monday through Friday. The help line number is (800) 397-4209 or 
locally, (301) 415-4737.
    Participants who believe that they have a good cause for not 
submitting documents electronically must file a motion, 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.
    Non-timely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be 
entertained absent a determination by the Commission, the presiding 
officer, or the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that the petition 
and/or request should be granted and/or the contentions should be 
admitted based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR 
2.309(c)(1)(i)-(viii). To be timely, filings must be submitted no later 
than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date.
    Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in 
NRC's electronic hearing docket which is available to the public at 
https://ehd.nrc.gov/EHD_Proceeding/home.asp, unless excluded pursuant 
to an order of the Commission, an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, or 
a Presiding Officer. Participants are requested not to include social 
security numbers in their filings. 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.
    The formal requirements for documents contained in 10 CFR 2.304(c)-
(e) must be met. If the NRC grants an electronic document exemption in 
accordance with 10 CFR 2.302(g)(3)), then the requirements for paper 
documents, set forth in 10 CFR 2.304(b) must be met.
    As indicated below, pursuant to 10 CFR 2.310(g), any hearing would 
be subject to the procedures set forth in 10 CFR part 2, subpart M.

III. Opportunity To Provide Written Comments

    Within 30 days from the date of publication of this notice, persons 
may submit written comments regarding the license transfer application, 
as provided for in 10 CFR 2.1305. The Commission will consider and, if 
appropriate, respond to these comments, but such comments will not 
otherwise constitute part of the decisional record. Comments should be 
submitted to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications 
Staff, and should cite the publication date and page number of this 
Federal Register notice. Comments received after 30 days will be 
considered if practicable to do so, but only those comments received on 
or before the due date can be assured consideration.
    For further details with respect to this license transfer 
application, see the application dated January 25, 2008, 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 
records will be accessible electronically from the Agency-Wide 
Documents Access and Management System's (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 telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or 
301-415-4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 9th day of May 2008.
    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Keith I. McConnell,
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. E8-11353 Filed 5-20-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P