ML12325A418

Letter, Notice of Consideration of Approval of Indirect and Direct Transfer for Facility Operating Licenses and Conforming Amendments, and Opportunity for a Hearing

ML12325A418
Person / Time
Site:	Arkansas Nuclear
Issue date:	12/21/2012
From:	Wang A Plant Licensing Branch IV
To:	Entergy Operations
Wang A
References
TAC ME9710, TAC ME9711
Download: ML12325A418 (14)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 December 21, 2012 Vice President, Operations Arkansas Nuclear One Entergy Operations, Inc.

1448 S.R. 333 Russellville, AR 72802

SUBJECT:

ARKANSAS NUCLEAR ONE, UNITS 1 AND 2 - CONSIDERATION OF APPROVAL OF APPLICATION REGARDING PROPOSED CREATION OF A HOLDING COMPANY AND TRANSFER OF RENEWED FACILITY OPERATING LICENSES AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS AND OPPORTUNITY FOR A HEARING (TAC NOS. ME9710 AND ME9711)

Dear Sir or Madam:

Enclosed is a copy of a notice for "Consideration of Approval of Application Regarding Proposed Creation of a Holding Company and Transfer of Renewed Facility Operating Licenses and Conforming Amendments and Opportunity for a Hearing," related to the application dated September 27, 2012 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS)

Accession No. ML12275A013), filed by Entergy Operations, Inc. (the licensee), acting on behalf of Entergy Arkansas, Inc., as well as their parent companies and itself.

Pursuant to Section 50.80 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), the application seeks U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approval of the direct transfer of the Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-51 and NPF-6, respectively, for the Arkansas Nuclear One, Units 1 and 2, to Entergy Arkansas, LLC from the current holder of the license, Entergy Arkansas, Inc. The application also seeks NRC approval of the proposed indirect transfers of the licenses to the extent effected by establishment of a new intermediary holding company, Entergy Utilities Holdings, LLC. In addition, pursuant to 10 CFR 50.90, the application seeks the issuance of conforming amendments to the licenses to reflect the transfer.

- 2 The notice is being forwarded to the Office of the Federal Register for publication.

Sincerely, Wcv" WQ~d-'

Alan B. Wang, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch IV Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-313 and 50-368

Enclosure:

Notice cc w/encl: John E. Matthews Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20004 Additional distribution via Listserv

[7590-01-P]

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Arkansas Nuclear One, Units 1 and 2

[Docket Nos. 50-313 and 50-368; NRC-20YY -XXXX]

Consideration of Approval of Application Regarding Proposed Creation of a Holding Company and Transfer of Renewed Facility Operating Licenses and Conforming Amendments and Opportunity for a Hearing AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Request for license transfer; opportunity to comment; opportunity to request a hearing and petition for leave to intervene.

DATES: Comments must be filed by PNSERT DATE: 30 DAYS FROM DATE OF PUBLICATION OF THIS FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE]. A request for a hearing must be filed by [INSERT DATE: 20 DAYS FROM DATE OF PUBLICATION OF THIS FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE].

ADDRESSES: You many access information and comment submissions related to this document, which the NRC possesses and are publicly available, by searching on http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID <NRC-20YY-XXXX>. You may submit comments by any of the following methods:

• Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID <NRC*20YY-XXXX>. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-3668; e-mail: CaroI.Gallagher@nrc.gov.

-2

• Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, Announcements, and Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWB-05-B01 M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

• Fax comments to: RADB at 301-492-3446.

For additional direction on accessing information and submitting comments, see "Accessing Information and Submitting Comments" in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alan Wang, Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch IV, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555. Telephone: 301-415-1445; fax number: 301-415-2102; e-mail: Alan.Wang@nrc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments A. Accessing Information Please refer to Docket 10 <NRC-20YY-XXXX> when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You may access information related to this document. which the NRC possesses and are publicly available, by any of the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID <NRC-20YY-XXXX>.

-3

• NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS):

You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select "ADAMS Public Documents" and then 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 bye-mail to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The application dated September 27, 2012, is available electronically under ADAMS Accession No. ML12275A013.

• NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public documents at the NRC's PDR, Room 01-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

B. Submitting Comments Please include Docket 10 <NRC-20YY-XXXX> in the subject line of your comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make your comment submission available to the public in this docket.

The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in you comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove identifying or contact information.

If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove such information

-4 before making the comment submissions available to the public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.

II. Introduction The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is considering the issuance of an order under 10 CFR 50.80 approving the direct transfer of the Renewed Facility Operating Licenses, w~lich are numbered DPR-51 and NPF-6, for the Arkansas Nuclear One, Units 1 and 2 (ANO-l, ANO-2), and associated Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation, currently held by Entergy Arkansas, Inc. (EAI), as owner and Entergy Operations, Inc. (EOI), as licensed operator of ANO-1 and ANO-2. The direct transfer of the ANO-1 and ANO-2 licenses would be to a new limited liability company, Entergy Arkansas, LLC (EAL). According to an application for approval filed by EOI on behalf of EAI, EAL would acquire ownership of the facility following approval of the proposed license transfer. EOI would remain responsible for the operation and maintenance of ANO-1 and ANO-2. The Commission is also considering amending the license for administrative purposes to reflect the proposed direct transfer. The proposed amendment would replace references to EAI in the license with references to Entergy Arkansas, LLC, to reflect the proposed transfer.

In addition, the Commission is also considering approving associated indirect license transfers to the extent such would be effected by a formation of a new intermediary holding company. According to an application for approval filed by EOI, on behalf of EAI, Entergy Corporation will remain as the ultimate parent company, but a new, intermediate company, Entergy Utilities Holdings, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, will be created, which will

~ 5 be the direct parent company of EAL and EOL EAL will own the facility and EOI would remain responsible for the operation and maintenance of AI\JO-1 and ANO-2.

No physical changes to the ANO-1 and ANO-2 facility 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 direct 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. The Commission will approve an application for the indirect transfer of a license, if the Commission determines that the proposed establishment of a new holding company 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.

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.

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

-6 considerations are being solicited, notwithstanding the general comment procedures contained in 10 CFR 50.91.

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.

III. Opportunity to Request a Hearing; Petition for Leave to Intervene 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's 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 Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Part 2. In particular, such requests and petitions must comply with the requirements set forth in 10 CFR 2.309, which is available at the NRC's PDR, located at 01 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland 20852.

The NRC regulations are accessible electronically from the NRC Library on the NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/.

A State, local governmental body, Federally-recognized Indian Tribe, or agency thereof may submit a petition to the Commission to participate as a party under 10 CFR 2.309(h)(1) and (2). The petition should state the nature and extent of the petitioner's interest in the proceeding.

The petition should be submitted to the Commission by [INSERT DATE: 20 DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION OF THIS FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE]. The petition must be filed

-7 in accordance with the filing instructions in section IV of this document, and should meet the requirements for petitions for leave to intervene set forth in this section, except that under 2.309(h)(2) a State, local governmental body, or Federally-recognized Indian tribe does not need to address the standing requirements in 10 CFR 2.309(d) if the facility is located within its boundaries. A State, local governmental body, Federally-recognized Indian Tribe, or agency thereof may also have the opportunity to participate under 10 CFR 2.315(c).

Requests for hearing, petitions for leave to intervene, and motions for leave to file new or amended contentions that are filed after the 20-day deadline will not be entertained absent a determination by the presiding officer that the filing demonstrates good cause by satisfying the following three factors in 10 CFR 2.309(c)(1): (i) the information upon which the filing is based was not previously available; (ii) the information upon which the filing is based is materially different from information previously available; and (iii) the filing has been submitted in a timely fashion based on the availability of the subsequent information.

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's E-Filing rule (72 FR 49139; August 28,2007). The E-Filing process requires participants to submit and serve all adjudicatory 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.

- 8 IV. Electronic Submissions (E-Filing)

To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at least 10 days prior to the filing deadline, the participant should contact the Office of the Secretary bye-mail at hearing.docket@nrc.gov, or by telephone at 301-415-1677, to request (1) a digital identi'fication (ID) certificate, which allows the participant (or its counselor representative) to digitally sign documents and access the E-Submittal server for any proceeding in which it is participating; and (2) advise the Secretary that the participant will be submitting a request or petition for hearing (even in instances in which the participant, or its counselor representative, already holds an NRC-issued digitallD certificate). Based upon this information, the Secretary will establish an electronic docket for the hearing in this proceeding if the Secretary has not already established an electronic docket.

Information about applying for a digital ID certificate is available on the NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/apply-certificates.html. System requirements for accessing the E-Submittal server are detailed in the NRC's "Guidance for Electronic Submission," which is available on the NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html. PartiCipants may attempt to use other software not listed on the Web site, but should note that the NRC's E-Filing system does not support unlisted software, and the NRC Meta System Help Desk will not be able to offer assistance in using unlisted software.

If a participant is electronically submitting a document to the NRC in accordance with the E-Filing rule, the participant must file the document using the NRC's online, Web-based submission form. In order to serve documents through the Electronic Information Exchange System, users will be required to install a Web browser plug-in from the NRC's public Web site.

Further information on the Web-based submission form, including the installation of the Web browser plug-in, is available on the NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e submittals.html.

Once a participant has obtained a digitallD certificate and a docket has been created, the participant 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's public Web site at htlp:llwww.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submitlals.html. A filing is considered complete at the time the documents are submitted through the NRC's E Filing system. To be timely, an electronic filing must be submitted to the E-Filing system no later than 11 :59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. Upon receipt of a transmission, the Filing system time-stamps the document and sends the submitter an e-mail notice confirming receipt of the document. The E-Filing system also distributes an e-mail notice that provides access to the document to the NRC's 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 counselor representative) must apply for and receive a digitallD 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 using the NRC's adjudicatory E-Filing system may seek assistance by contacting the NRC Meta System Help Desk through the "Contact Us" link located on the NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-hetp/e-submittals.html.by e-mail to MSHD.Resource@nrc.gov, or by a toll-free call to 1-866-672-7640. The NRC Meta System Help Desk is available between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, excluding government holidays.

- 10 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. A presiding officer, having granted an exemption request from using E Filing, may require a partiCipant or party to use E-Filing if the presiding officer subsequently determines that the reason for granting the exemption from use of E-Filing no longer exists.

Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in NRC's electronic hearing docket which is available to the public at http://ehd1.nrc.gov/ehd/, unless excluded pursuant to an order of the Commission, or the 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, unless an NRC regulation or other law requires submission of such information. 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 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

- 11 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 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.

For further details with respect to this application, see the application dated September 27,2012.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 21st day of December 2012.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

/, f\ D Il~k\~ Lyv~/'~'

Nageswaran Kallrra~, Project Plant Licensing Branch IV,

~ana~:r, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.

- 2 The notice is being forwarded to the Office of the Federal Register for publication.

Sincerely, IRN Alan B. Wang, Project Manager Plant Licensing Branch IV Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-313 and 50-368

Enclosure:

Notice cc w/encl: John E. Matthews Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20004 Additional distribution via Listserv DISTRIBUTION:

PUBLIC LPLIV Reading RidsAcrsAcnw_MaiICTR Resource RidsNrrDorlDpr Resource RidsNrrDorlLpl4 Resource RidsNrrLAJBurkhardt Resource RidsNrrPMANO Resource RidsOgcRp Resource RidsRgn4MailCenter Resource SUttal,OGC ADAMS Accession Nos.: LTR ML12325A418 FRN ML12325A431 OFFICE NRR/DORLlLPL4/PM NRR/DORLlLPL4/PM NRRlDORLlLPL4/LA OGC NLO NAME JRankin AWang JBurkhardt SUttal I~

OFFICE 11/27/12 NRR/DORLlLPL4/BC 12/19/12 NRR/DORLlLPL4/PM 11/27/12 12/12/12 AWang (NKalyanam NAME MMarkley for)

TE 12/20/12 12/21/12 OFFICIAL RECORD COpy