ML090760687

FRN: Notice of Consideration of Approval of Application Proposed Ownership Interest in Ceng by Edf Development and Opportunity for a Hearing - R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant

ML090760687
Person / Time
Site:	Ginna
Issue date:	04/28/2009
From:	Pickett D Plant Licensing Branch 1
To:	Wallace M Constellation Energy Group
Guzman R, NRR/DORL, 415-1030
Shared Package
ML090760675	List: ML090760687
References
NRC-2009-0192, TAC ME0445
Download: ML090760687 (6)

Text

7590-01-P UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION R.E. GINNA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT, LLC R.E. GINNA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT DOCKET NO. 50-244 NOTICE OF CONSIDERATION OF APPROVAL OF APPLICATION REGARDING PROPOSED CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING AND OF INDIRECT TRANSFER OF LICENSES PURSUANT TO 10 CFR 50.80 AND OPPORTUNITY FOR A HEARING

[NRC-2009-0192]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) is considering the issuance of an Order under 10 CFR 50.80 approving the indirect transfer of Renewed Facility Operating License, No. DPR-18, for the R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant, currently held by R.E.

Ginna Nuclear Power Plant, LLC, as owner and licensed operator. R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant, LLC, is owned by Constellation Nuclear Power Plants, Inc., which is owned by Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, LLC (CENG). CENG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Constellation Energy Group, Inc. (CEG).

According to an application dated January 22, 2009, filed by CENG, on behalf of R.E.

Ginna Nuclear Power Plant, LLC, and EDF Development, Inc. (EDF Development), as supplemented by letters dated February 26 and April 8, 2009, the applicants seek approval pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80 of the indirect transfer of control of the subject license held by R.E.

Ginna Nuclear Power Plant, LLC, to the extent such would result from certain proposed corporate restructuring actions in connection with a planned investment by EDF Development whereby it would acquire a 49.99% ownership interest in CENG. EDF Development is a U.S.

corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware and a wholly-owned subsidiary of

E.D.F. International S.A., a public limited company organized under the laws of France, which is in turn a wholly-owned subsidiary of Électricité de France S.A., a French limited company.

Following the proposed transaction, CEG will hold a 50.01% ownership interest in CENG through two new intermediate parent companies which will be formed for non-operational purposes. In addition, the intermediate holding company, Constellation Nuclear Power Plants, Inc., which exists between CENG and R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant, LLC, will be converted from a corporation to a limited liability company. No physical changes to the facilities or operational changes are being proposed in the application.

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 indirect transfer of a license, if the Commission determines that the proposed underlying transaction, i.e., the proposed corporate restructuring, will not affect the qualifications of the licensee 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.

The filing of requests for hearing and petitions for leave to intervene, and written comments with regard to the license transfer application, are discussed below.

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 through the NRC E-filing system. Requests for a hearing and petitions for leave to intervene should be filed in accordance with the Commissions rules of practice set forth in Subpart C ARules 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).

All documents filed in NRC adjudicatory proceedings, including a request for hearing, a petition for leave to intervene, any motion or other document filed in the proceeding prior to the submission of a request for hearing or petition to intervene, and documents filed by interested governmental entities participating under 10 CFR 2.315(c), must be filed in accordance with the NRC E-Filing rule, which the NRC promulgated in August 2007 (72 FR 49139). The E-Filing process 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 an exemption in accordance with the procedures described below.

To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at least ten (10) days prior to the filing deadline, the petitioner/requestor should contact the Office of the Secretary by e-mail at HEARING.DOCKET@NRC.GOV, or by calling (301) 415-1677, to request (1) a digital 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 ViewerJ to access the Electronic Information Exchange (EIE), a component of the E-Filing system. The Workplace Forms ViewerJ is free and is available at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/install-viewer.html. Information about applying for a digital ID certificate is available on NRC=s public website at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/apply-certificates.html.

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 website at http://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 AContact Us@ link located on the NRC website at http://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 8:00 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, excluding government holidays. The electronic filing Help Desk can be contacted by telephone at 1-866-672-7640 or by e-mail at MHSD.Resource@nrc.gov.

Participants who believe that they have a good cause for not submitting documents electronically must file an exemption request, 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.

Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in NRC's electronic hearing docket which is available to the public at http://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 personal privacy information, such as social security numbers, home addresses, or home phone 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 submissions.

The Commission will issue a notice or order granting or denying a hearing request or intervention petition, designating the issues for any hearing that will be held and designating the Presiding Officer. A notice granting a hearing will be published in the FEDERAL REGISTER and served on the parties to the hearing.

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 are not subject to the E-filing rule and 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 may also be sent by e-mail to HEARINGDOCKET@NRC.GOV.

For further details with respect to this indirect license transfer application, see the application dated January 22, 2009, 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 Systems (ADAMS)

Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC web site, http://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.resource@nrc.gov.

Attorneys for applicants: Daniel F. Stenger, Hogan & Hartson LLP, 555 Thirteenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004, tel: 202.637.5691, email: DFStenger@hhlaw.com (counsel for CENG); and John E. Matthews, Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius, 1111 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20004, tel. 202.739.5524, email:jmatthews@morganlewis.com (counsel for EDF Development).

Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 28th day of April 2009.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

/RA/

Douglas V. Pickett, Senior Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch I-1 Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation