In the Matter of Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.; Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC (Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station); Order Approving Indirect Transfer of Facility Operating License, 45085-45086 [E8-17678]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 149 (Friday, August 1, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45085-45086]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-17678]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-271 and 72-59]


In the Matter of Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.; Entergy 
Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC (Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station); 
Order Approving Indirect Transfer of Facility Operating License

I

    Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (ENO) and Entergy Nuclear Vermont 
Yankee, LLC (EN-Vermont Yankee) are co-holders of the Facility 
Operating License, No. DPR-28, which authorizes the possession, use, 
and operation of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (Vermont 
Yankee). Vermont Yankee is a boiling water nuclear reactor that is 
owned by EN-Vermont Yankee and operated by ENO. The facility is located 
in the town of Vernon, Windham County, Vermont.

II

    By application dated July 30, 2007, as supplemented by letters 
dated October 31, and December 5, 2007, and January 24, March 17, April 
22, and May 2, 2008, ENO, acting on behalf of itself and EN-Vermont 
Yankee, requested that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the 
Commission), pursuant to Section 50.80 of Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), consent to the proposed indirect transfer 
of control of the Vermont Yankee license, including the general license 
for the independent spent fuel storage installation.
    EN-Vermont Yankee is currently a direct wholly owned subsidiary of 
Entergy Nuclear Vermont Investment Company, LLC which, in turn, is a 
direct wholly owned subsidiary of Entergy Nuclear Holding Company 
3, LLC. Entergy Nuclear Holding Company 3, LLC is a 
direct wholly owned subsidiary of Entergy Nuclear Holding Company 
which, in turn, is a direct wholly owned subsidiary of Entergy 
Corporation. Therefore, under the current corporate structure, Entergy 
Corporation is the indirect owner of 100 percent of EN-Vermont Yankee.
    Under the proposed corporate restructuring, a new holding company, 
Enexus Energy Corporation (Enexus), will be created. Initially, the 
shareholders of Entergy Corporation will separately own the shares of 
Enexus and, as such, Enexus will be owned by the public. Entergy 
Nuclear Holding Company will become a direct wholly owned subsidiary of 
Enexus. Accordingly, following the corporate restructuring, Enexus will 
acquire indirect control of 100 percent of EN-Vermont Yankee.
    ENO, the operator of the Vermont Yankee facility, is currently a 
direct wholly owned subsidiary of Entergy Nuclear Holding Company 
2 which, in turn, is a direct wholly owned subsidiary of 
Entergy Corporation. Therefore, Entergy Corporation is currently the 
indirect owner of 100 percent of ENO.
    Under the proposed corporate restructuring, Entergy Nuclear Holding 
Company 2 will be eliminated and ENO will become a direct 
subsidiary of a new parent company called EquaGen, LLC. EquaGen, LLC 
will be owned in equal shares by two new intermediate holding companies 
as follows. Entergy EquaGen, Inc. is being created as a direct 
subsidiary of Entergy Corporation and will own 50 percent of EquaGen, 
LLC. Similarly, Enexus EquaGen, LLC is being created as a direct 
subsidiary of Enexus and will also own 50 percent of EquaGen, LLC. 
Accordingly, following the corporate restructuring, Entergy Corporation 
and Enexus will each have indirect control of 50 percent of ENO.
    Finally, ENO will be converted from a corporation to a limited 
liability company and its name will be changed from Entergy Nuclear 
Operations, Inc. to EquaGen Nuclear, LLC. Under Delaware law, EquaGen 
Nuclear, LLC will assume all of the rights and responsibilities of ENO, 
and it will be the same company (legal entity) both before and after 
the conversion and name change. Also, EN-Vermont Yankee will undergo a 
name change to become Enexus Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC. The staff 
understands that ENO will request an administrative license amendment 
to conform the Vermont Yankee license in the near future.
    Notice of the request for approval and an opportunity for a hearing 
was published in the Federal Register on January 16, 2008 (73 FR 2953). 
By petition dated February 5, 2008, Locals 369 and 590, Utility Workers 
Union of America (UWUA), American Federation of Labor-Congress of 
Industrial Organization, representing plant workers at the Pilgrim 
Nuclear Power Station located in Plymouth, Massachusetts, responded to 
the Federal Register notice and requested a hearing and leave to 
intervene as a party in the proceeding for Vermont Yankee. On June 12, 
2008, Local 369 filed a notice of withdrawal of its petition to 
intervene. The notice of withdrawal did not apply to Local 590.
    The request for a hearing is currently pending before the 
Commission. Pursuant to 10 CFR 2.1316, during the

[[Page 45086]]

pendency of a hearing, the staff is expected to promptly proceed with 
the approval or denial of license transfer requests consistent with the 
staff's findings in its safety evaluation. Notice of the staff's action 
shall be promptly transmitted to the presiding officer and parties to 
the proceeding. Commission action on the pending hearing request is 
being handled independently of this action.
    Also, an intervenor from Oswego, New York, submitted two letters to 
the Commission with public comments dated January 21, 2008, along with 
an electronic transmission containing public comments dated January 27, 
2008. The public comments are addressed by the NRC's safety evaluation 
dated July 28, 2008.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80(a), 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. Upon review of the information in the application as 
supplemented and other information before the Commission, and relying 
upon the representations and agreements in the application as 
supplemented, the NRC staff concludes that the proposed indirect 
transfer of control of the license held by EN-Vermont Yankee to Enexus, 
as described herein, will not affect the qualifications of EN-Vermont 
Yankee as holder of the Vermont Yankee license. The indirect transfer 
of control of the license is otherwise consistent with applicable 
provisions of law, regulations, and orders issued by the NRC. 
Furthermore, the NRC staff concludes that the proposed corporate 
restructuring involving new intermediate and ultimate parent companies 
over ENO, as described herein, will not affect the qualifications of 
ENO as holder of the Vermont Yankee license. The indirect transfer of 
control of the license as held by ENO, to the extent affected by the 
proposed restructuring, is otherwise consistent with applicable 
provisions of law, regulations, and orders issued by the Commission.
    The NRC staff concludes that the conversion of Entergy Nuclear 
Operations, Inc. to EquaGen Nuclear LLC would not constitute a direct 
transfer of the licenses to the extent held by ENO. Therefore, no 
consent to the proposed conversion is necessary.
    The findings set forth above are supported by the NRC's safety 
evaluation dated July 28, 2008.

III

    Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 161b, 161i, 161o, and 184 of the 
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 2201(b), 2201(i), 
2201(o), and 2234; and 10 CFR 50.80, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the 
application regarding the indirect license transfer discussed above 
related to the proposed corporate restructuring and establishment of 
Enexus is approved, subject to the following conditions:
    1. EN-Vermont Yankee shall enter into the $700 million Support 
Agreement with Enexus Energy Corporation as described in the 
application, no later than the time the proposed transactions and 
indirect license transfer occurs. EN-Vermont Yankee shall take no 
action to cause Enexus Energy Corporation, or its successors and 
assigns, to void, cancel, or modify the Support Agreement or cause it 
to fail to perform, or impair its performance under the Support 
Agreement, without prior written consent of the NRC. The Support 
Agreement may not be amended or modified without 30 days prior written 
notice to the Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation or 
his designee. An executed copy of the Support Agreement shall be 
submitted to the NRC no later than 30 days after the completion of the 
proposed transactions and the indirect license transfer. EN-Vermont 
Yankee shall inform the NRC in writing anytime it draws upon the 
Support Agreement.
    2. The ten separate support guarantees from various Entergy 
subsidiaries, which total $315 million, including the support guarantee 
relating to Vermont Yankee, may be revoked when, and conditioned upon, 
implementation of the new $700 million Support Agreement at the time 
the proposed restructuring and indirect license transfer are completed.
    3. Should the proposed corporate restructuring and establishment of 
Enexus not be completed within one year from the date of this Order, 
this Order shall become null and void, provided, however, upon written 
application and 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 30, 2007, as supplemented by letters dated October 31, and 
December 5, 2007, and January 24, March 17, April 22, and May 2, 2008, 
and the NRC's safety evaluation dated July 28, 2008, 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 telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to 
pdr@nrc.gov.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 28th day of July 2008.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Timothy J. McGinty,
Acting Director, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of 
Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. E8-17678 Filed 7-31-08; 8:45 am]
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