ML20217K011
| ML20217K011 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 10/13/1999 |
| From: | Dicus G, The Chairman NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | Glauthier T ENERGY, DEPT. OF |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20217K018 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9910260021 | |
| Download: ML20217K011 (1) | |
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- g NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 205500001
.e 13, 1999
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t October CHAIRMAN
- The Honorable T.J. Glauthier Deputy Secretary of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington D.C. 20585
Dear Mr. Glauthier:
Thank you for your letter of September 21,1999, regarding foreign investments in domestic utilities owning or operating nuclear units. Your letter encourages "NRC to adopt a regulatory approach that facilitates the broadest possible range of foreign transactions and ownership scenarios, provided they pose no national security or safety concerns and particularly in instances where such transactions would aid utility restructuring or otherwise relieve stranded cost pressures." As set forth below, the NRC has taken significant steps in this direction.
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~As you are aware, the Atomic Energy Act and the Commission's regulations preclude the NRC from issuing reactor licenses to aliens or applicants " owned, controlled, or dominated" by foreign interests. As reflected in the recently issued Standard Review Plan on Foreign i
Ownership, Control, or Domination, which will guide NRC staff review of applications for nuclear
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facility licenses, the Commission will consider in any given case all of the facts and
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circumstances, with an orientation to the common defense and security, in determining whether the prohibition against foreign ownership, control, or domination of an NRC licensee would preclude the granting of a license. Although aliens may not directly own an interest in a reactor, j
foreign investment in U.S. nuclear utilities is not barred per se, provided appropriate conditions exist that will ensure there is no threat to the common defense or security of the United States or to the health and safety of the public. The Standard Review Plan highlights some of the factors that the Commission will consider in this regard. The Commission believes the NRC's regulatory approach as documented by the Standard Review Plan provides flexibility within the
- confines of the current law such that foreign investment in U.S. nuclear facilities will not be impeded unnocessarily, i
The Commission has also sought' legislation that would remove the Atomic Energy Act's unqualified restriction on direct foreign ownership of utilization facilities (power and research reactors). The Commission's legislative proposal would preserve both the restriction on foreign -
ownership of production facilities and the restriction on issuance of any license that would be J
' inimical to.the common defense and security or to the health and safety of the public.
Unfortunately, neither of the cognizant Senate or House committees included the Commission proposalin the NRC authorization legislation for FY2000 recently ordered reported by these committees.
9 Sincerely,-
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