ML22299A113
ML22299A113 | |
Person / Time | |
---|---|
Site: | Susquehanna |
Issue date: | 11/03/2022 |
From: | Audrey Klett Plant Licensing Branch 1 |
To: | |
Klett A | |
References | |
EPID L-2022-LLM-0003, NRC-2022-0185, 87 FR 67511; 11/08/2022 | |
Download: ML22299A113 (11) | |
Text
[7590-01-P]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-387, 50-388, and 72-028; NRC-2022-0185]
Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2
and Associated Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation;
Consideration of Approval of Indirect Transfer of Licenses and Conforming
Amendments
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Application for indirect transfer of licenses and conforming amendments;
opportunity to comment, request a hearing, and petition for lea ve to intervene.
SUMMARY
- The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission)
received and is considering approval of an application filed by Susquehanna Nuclear,
LLC (Susquehanna Nuclear) on September 29, 2022, as supplemente d by letter dated
October 28, 2022. The application seeks NRC approval of the in direct transfer of
Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. NPF-14 and NPF-22 for S usquehanna Steam
Electric Station (Susquehanna), Units 1 and 2, respectively, an d the general license for
the Susquehanna independent spent fuel storage installation (IS FSI) as a result of the
restructuring of Talen Energy Corporation, an indirect parent o f Susquehanna Nuclear,
as a reorganized company yet to be named (referred to as Reorg anized Talen). The
NRC is also considering amending the renewed facility operating licenses for
administrative purposes to reflect the proposed transfer. The application and
supplement contain sensitive unclassified non-safeguards inform ation (SUNSI).
DATES: Submit comments by December 8, 2022. A request for a hearing or petitions
for leave to intervene must be filed by November 28, 2022. Any potential party as
defined in § 2.4 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), who believes access to SUNSI is necessary to respond to this notice must fol low the instructions in
Section VI of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this not ice.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods; howe ver,
the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the Federal rulemaking
website:
- Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and
search for Docket ID NRC-2022-0185. Address questions about Docket IDs in
Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; telephone: 301-415-0624; em ail:
Stacy.Schumann@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the i ndividual listed in the
For Further Information Contact section of this document.
- Email comments to: Hearing.Docket@nrc.gov. If you do not receive an
automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact us at 30 1-415-1677.
- Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at
301-415-1101.
- Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff.
- Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland
20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays.
For additional direction on obtaining information and submittin g comments, see
Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments in the SUPPLEME NTARY
INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Audrey Klett, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 20555-0001;
telephone: 301-415-0489; email: Audrey.Klett@nrc.gov.
2 SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2022-0185 when contacting the NRC about the
availability of information for this action. You may obtain pu blicly available information
related to this action by any of the following methods:
- Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and
search for Docket ID NRC-2022-0185.
- NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the ADA MS Public
Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.ht ml. To begin the
search, select Begin Web-based ADAMS Search. For problems wi th ADAMS, please
contact the NRCs Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209,
301-415-4737, or by email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. The applica tion dated
September 29, 2022, is available in ADAMS under Accession No. M L22272A604. The
supplement dated October 28, 2022, is available in ADAMS under Accession No.
- NRCs PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public documents,
by appointment, at the NRCs PDR, Room P1 B35, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. To make an appointm ent to visit the PDR,
please send an email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-
4737, between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
B. Submitting Comments
3 The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the Federal
rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please include Docket ID NRC-
2022-0185 in your comment submission.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact info rmation that you
do not want to be publicly disclosed in your comment submission. The NRC will post all
comment submissions at https://www.regulations.gov as well as e nter the comment
submissions into ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit commen t submissions to
remove identifying or contact information.
If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other person s 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 dis closed in their comment
submission. Your request should state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment
submissions to remove such information before making the commen t submissions
available to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.
II. Introduction
The NRC is considering the issuance of an order under 10 CFR 50.80 and 72.50
approving the indirect transfer of Renewed Facility Operating L icense Nos. NPF-14 and
NPF-22 for Susquehanna, Units 1 and 2, respectively, and the ge neral license for the
Susquehanna ISFSI as a result of the restructuring of Talen Ene rgy Corporation as
Reorganized Talen. The NRC is also considering amending the re newed facility
operating licenses for administrative purposes to reflect the p roposed transfer.
According to the application filed by Susquehanna Nuclear, Susq uehanna
Nuclear is a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of Talen Energy Su pply, which is a direct,
wholly owned subsidiary of Talen Energy Corporation, the stock of which is held by
affiliates of Riverstone Holdings, LLC (Riverstone). Talen Ene rgy Supply and certain of
4 its subsidiaries (collectively, t he Debtors) each filed a voluntary case under chapter 11 of
title 11 of the United States Code in the United States Bankrup tcy Court for the Southern
District of Texas and executed a restructuring support agreemen t. The Debtors filed a
joint plan of reorganization. Under the terms of this plan, th e Debtors and Talen Energy
Corporation intend to pursue a comprehensive restructuring. Th e expectation is that, at
the conclusion of the proposed transactions, Susquehanna Nuclea r will continue to be
directly owned by Talen Energy Supply, which will, in turn, eit her be, or be directly
owned by, Reorganized Talen, and no other changes to the owners hip or control of
Susquehanna Nuclear will occur in the restructuring. NRC conse nt to the indirect
transfer of control of the Susquehanna licenses will be require d prior to consummating
the transactions contemplated by the reorganization plan.
According to the application, the proposed transactions do not involve any
change to Susquehanna Nuclears continued operation or its owne rship of Susquehanna
and do not involve any physical changes in Susquehanna or any c hanges to the conduct
of operations at Susquehanna.
The NRCs regulations at 10 CFR 50.80 and 72.50 state that no l icense, or any
right thereunder, shall be transferred, directly or indirectly, through transfer of control of
the license, unless the Commission gives its consent in writing. The Commission will
approve an application for the indirect transfer of a license, if the Commission
determines that the proposed transfer will not affect the quali fications 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.
Before issuance of the proposed conforming license amendments, the
Commission will have made findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as
amended (the Act), and the Commissions regulations.
5 As provided in 10 CFR 2.1315, unless otherwise determined by th e Commission
with regard to a specific application, the Commission has deter mined that any
amendment to the license of a utilization facility or the licen se of an ISFSI, which does
no more than conform the license to reflect the transfer action, involves no significant
hazards consideration and no genuine issue as to whether the he alth and safety of the
public will be significantly affected. No contrary determinati on has been made with
respect to this specific license amendment application. In lig ht of the generic
determination reflected in 10 CFR 2.1315, no public comments wi th respect to significant
hazards considerations are being solicited, notwithstanding the general comment
procedures contained in 10 CFR 50.91.
III. Opportunity to Comment
Within 30 days from the date of publication of this notice, per sons may submit
written comments regarding the license transfer application, as provided for in
10 CFR 2.1305. The Commission will consider and, if appropriat e, respond to these
comments, but such comments will not otherwise constitute part of the decisional record.
Comments should be submitted as described in the ADDRESSES section of this
document.
IV. Opportunity to Request a Hearing and Petition for Leave to Intervene
Within 20 days after the date of publication of this notice, an y person (petitioner)
whose interest may be affected by this action may file a reques t for a hearing and
petition for leave to intervene (petition) with respect to the action. Petitions shall be filed
in accordance with the Commissions Agency Rules of Practice a nd Procedure in
10 CFR part 2. Interested persons should consult 10 CFR 2.309. If a petition is filed,
the Commission or a presiding officer will rule on the petition and, if appropriate, a notice
of a hearing will be issued.
6 Petitions must be filed no later than 20 days from the date of publication of this
notice in accordance with the filing instructions in the Elect ronic Submissions (E-Filing)
section of this document. Petitions and motions for leave to f ile new or amended
contentions that are filed after the deadline will not be enter tained absent a
determination by the presiding officer that the filing demonstr ates good cause by
satisfying the three factors in 10 CFR 2.309(c)(1)(i) through ( iii).
A State, local governmental body, Federally recognized Indian T ribe, or
designated agency thereof, may submit a petition to the Commiss ion to participate as a
party under 10 CFR 2.309(h) no later than 20 days from the date of publication of this
notice. Alternatively, a State, local governmental body, Feder ally recognized Indian
Tribe, or designated agency thereof, may participate as a non-p arty under
For information about filing a petition and about participation by a person not a
party under 10 CFR 2.315, see ADAMS Accession No. ML20340A053
(https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?AccessionN umber=ML20340A
053) and on the NRCs public website at https://www.nrc.gov/abo ut-
nrc/regulatory/adjudicatory/hearing.html#participate.
V. Electronic Submissions (E-Filing)
All documents filed in NRC adjudicatory proceedings, including documents filed
by an interested State, local governmental body, Federally reco gnized Indian Tribe, or
designated agency thereof, that requests to participate under 1 0 CFR 2.315(c), must be
filed in accordance with 10 CFR 2.302. The E-Filing process re quires participants to
submit and serve all adjudicatory documents over the internet, or in some cases to mail
copies on electronic storage media, unless an exemption permitt ing an alternative filing
method, as further discussed, is granted. Detailed guidance on electronic submissions
7 is located in the Guidance for Electronic Submissions to the N RC (ADAMS Accession
No. ML13031A056) and on the NRCs public website at https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-
submittals.html.
To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at leas t 10 days prior to
the filing deadline, the participant should contact the Office of the Secretary by email at
Hearing.Docket@nrc.gov, or by telephone at 301-415-1677, to (1) request a digital
identification (ID) certificate, which allows the participant ( or its counsel or
representative) to digitally sign submissions and access the E-Filing system for any
proceeding in which it is participating; and (2) advise the Sec retary that the participant
will be submitting a petition or other adjudicatory document (e ven in instances in which
the participant, or its counsel or representative, already hold s an NRC-issued digital ID
certificate). Based upon this information, the Secretary will establish an electronic
docket for the proceeding if the Secretary has not already esta blished an electronic
docket.
Information about applying for a digital ID certificate is avai lable on the NRCs
public website at https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/ge tting-started.html. After a
digital ID certificate is obtained and a docket created, the pa rticipant must submit
adjudicatory documents in Portable Document Format. Guidance on submissions is
available on the NRCs public website at https://www.nrc.gov/si te-help/electronic-sub-ref-
mat.html. A filing is considered complete at the time the docu ment is submitted through
the NRCs E-Filing system. To be timely, an electronic filing must be submitted to the
E-Filing system no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on the due date. U pon receipt of a
transmission, the E-Filing system time-stamps the document and sends the submitter an
email confirming receipt of the document. The E-Filing system also distributes an email
that provides access to the document to the NRCs Office of the General Counsel and
8 any others who have advised the Office of the Secretary that th ey wish to participate in
the proceeding, so that the filer need not serve the document o n those participants
separately. Therefore, applicants and other participants (or t heir counsel or
representative) must apply for and receive a digital ID certificate before adjudicatory
documents are filed to obtain access to the documents via the E -Filing system.
A person filing electronically u sing the NRCs adjudicatory E-Filing system may
seek assistance by contacting the NRCs Electronic Filing Help Desk through the
Contact Us link located on the NRCs public website at https: //www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-
submittals.html, by email to MSHD.Resource@nrc.gov, or by a toll-free call at
1-866-672-7640. The NRC Electronic Filing Help Desk is availab le between 9:00 a.m.
and 6:00 p.m., ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal holida ys.
Participants who believe that they have good cause for not subm itting documents
electronically must file an exemption request, in accordance wi th 10 CFR 2.302(g), with
their initial paper filing stating why there is good cause for not filing electronically and
requesting authorization to continue to submit documents in pap er format. Such filings
must be submitted in accordance with 10 CFR 2.302(b)-(d). Part icipants filing
adjudicatory documents in this manner are responsible for servi ng their documents on all
other participants. Participants granted an exemption under 10 CFR 2.302(g)(2) must
still meet the electronic formatting requirement in 10 CFR 2.30 2(g)(1), unless the
participant also seeks and is granted an exemption from 10 CFR 2.302(g)(1).
Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in the NRCs
electronic hearing docket, which is publicly available at https ://adams.nrc.gov/ehd,
unless excluded pursuant to an order of the Commission or the p residing officer. If you
do not have an NRC-issued digital ID certificate as previously described, click cancel
when the link requests certificates and you will be automatical ly directed to the NRCs
9 electronic hearing dockets where you will be able to access any publicly available
documents in a particular hearing docket. Participants are req uested not to include
personal privacy information such as social security numbers, h ome addresses, or
personal phone numbers in their filings unless an NRC regulatio n or other law requires
submission of such information. With respect to copyrighted wo rks, except for limited
excerpts that serve the purpose of the adjudicatory filings and would constitute a Fair
Use application, participants should not include copyrighted ma terials in their
submission.
The Commission will issue a notice or order granting or denying a hearing
request or intervention petition, designating the issues for an y hearing that will be held
and designating the Presiding Officer. A notice granting a hea ring will be published in
the Federal Register and served on the parties to the hearing.
For further details with respect to this application, see the a pplication dated
September 29, 2022, and its supplement dated October 28, 2022.
VI. Access to Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards Informatio n for Contention
Preparation
Any person who desires access to proprietary, confidential comm ercial
information that has been redacted from the application should contact the applicant by
telephoning Ms. Melisa Krick, Manager - Nuclear Regulatory Affa irs, at (570) 542-1818
for the purpose of negotiating a confidentiality agreement or a proposed protective order
with the applicant. If no agreement can be reached, persons wh o desire access to this
information may file a motion with the Secretary and addressed to the Commission that
requests the issuance of a protective order.
Dated: November 3, 2022.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
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/RA/
Audrey L. Klett, Senior Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch 1, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
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