ML22299A113

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Notice of Consideration of Approval of Indirect Transfer of Licenses and Conforming Amendments & Opportunity to Request Hearing - Susquehanna Steam Station, Units 1 & 2 & Associated Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (EPID L-2022-L
ML22299A113
Person / Time
Site: Susquehanna  Talen Energy icon.png
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:

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:

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.

ML22301A205.

  • 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

10 CFR 2.315(c).

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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