§ 35.32 - General provisions.

§ 35.32 General provisions.

(a) If a public utility has elected to provide for the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant through a nuclear plant decommissioning trust fund (Fund), the Fund must meet the following criteria:

(1) The Fund must be an external trust fund in the United States, established pursuant to a written trust agreement, that is independent of the utility, its subsidiaries, affiliates or associates. If the trust fund includes monies collected both in Commission-jurisdictional rates and in non-Commission-jurisdictional rates, then a separate account of the Commission-jurisdictional monies shall be maintained.

(2) The utility may provide overall investment policy to the Trustee or Investment Manager, but it may do so only in writing, and neither the utility nor its subsidiaries, affiliates or associates may serve as Investment Manager or otherwise engage in day-to-day management of the Fund or mandate individual investment decisions.

(3) The Fund's Investment Manager must exercise the standard of care, whether in investing or otherwise, that a prudent investor would use in the same circumstances. The term “prudent investor” means a prudent investor as described in Restatement of the Law (Third), Trusts § 227, including general comments and reporter's notes, pages 8-101. St. Paul, MN: American Law Institute Publishers, (1992). ISBN 0-314-84246-2. This incorporation by reference was approved by the Director of the Federal Register in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51. Copies may be obtained from the American Law Institute, 4025 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, and are also available in local law libraries. Copies may be inspected at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Library, Room 95-01, 888 First Street, NE. Washington, DC or at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). For information on the availability of this material at NARA, call 202-741-6030, or go to: http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/code_of_federal_regulations/ibr_locations.html.

(4) The Trustee shall have a net worth of at least $100 million. In calculating the $100 million net worth requirement, the net worth of the Trustee's parent corporation and/or affiliates may be taken into account only if such entities guarantee the Trustee's responsibilities to the Fund.

(5) The Trustee or Investment Manager shall keep accurate and detailed accounts of all investments, receipts, disbursements and transactions of the Fund. All accounts, books and records relating to the Fund shall be open to inspection and audit at reasonable times by the utility or its designee or by the Commission or its designee. The utility or its designee must notify the Commission prior to performing any such inspection or audit. The Commission may direct the utility to conduct an audit or inspection.

(6) Absent the express authorization of the Commission, no part of the assets of the Fund may be used for, or diverted to, any purpose other than to fund the costs of decommissioning the nuclear power plant to which the Fund relates, and to pay administrative costs and other incidental expenses, including taxes, of the Fund.

(7) If the Fund balances exceed the amount actually expended for decommissioning after decommissioning has been completed, the utility shall return the excess jurisdictional amount to ratepayers, in a manner the Commission determines.

(8) Except for investments tied to market indexes or other mutual funds, the Investment Manager shall not invest in any securities of the utility for which it manages the funds or in that utility's subsidiaries, affiliates, or associates or their successors or assigns.

(9) The utility and the Fiduciary shall seek to obtain the best possible tax treatment of amounts collected for nuclear plant decommissioning. In this regard, the utility and the Fiduciary shall take maximum advantage of tax deductions and credits, when it is consistent with sound business practices to do so.

(10) Each utility shall deposit in the Fund at least quarterly all amounts included in Commission-jurisdictional rates to fund nuclear power plant decommissioning.

(b) The establishment, organization, and maintenance of the Fund shall not relieve the utility or its subsidiaries, affiliates or associates of any obligations it may have as to the decommissioning of the nuclear power plant. It is not the responsibility of the Fiduciary to ensure that the amount of monies that a Fund contains are adequate to pay for a nuclear unit's decommissioning.

(c) A utility may establish both qualified and non-qualified Funds with respect to a utility's interest in a specific nuclear plant. This section applies to both “qualified” (under the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. 468A, or any successor section) and non-qualified Funds.

(d) A utility must regularly supply to the Fund's Investment Manager, and regularly update, essential information about the nuclear unit covered by the Trust Fund Agreement, including its description, location, expected remaining useful life, the decommissioning plan the utility proposes to follow, the utility's liquidity needs once decommissioning begins, and any other information that the Fund's Investment Manager would need to construct and maintain, over time, a sound investment plan.

(e) A utility should monitor the performance of all Fiduciaries of the Fund and, if necessary, replace them if they are not properly performing assigned responsibilities.

[Order 580-A, 62 FR 33348, June 19, 1997, as amended at 69 FR 18803, Apr. 9, 2004]