E7-25105. South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company; Notice of Hearing and Opportunity To Petition for Leave To Intervene on a Combined License for the South Texas Project Units 3 and 4

Pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and the regulations in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 2, “Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing Proceedings and Issuance of Orders,” 10 CFR part 50, “Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities,” and 10 CFR part 52, “Early Site Permits; Standard Design Certifications; and Combined Licenses for Nuclear Power Plants,” notice is hereby given that a hearing will be held, at a time and place to be set in the future by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) or designated by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (Board). The hearing will consider the application dated September 20, 2007, filed by South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company, pursuant to Subpart C of 10 CFR part 52 for a combined license (COL). The application, which was supplemented by letters dated September 26, 2007, October 15, 2007, October 18, 2007, November 8, 2007, November 12, 2007, November 13, 2007, and November 21, 2007, requests approval of a COL for South Texas Project Units 3 and 4 located in Matagorda County, Texas. The application was accepted for docketing on November 29, 2007. The docket numbers established for this application are 52-012 and 52-013.

The hearing will be conducted by a Board that will be designated by the Chairman of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel or by the Commission. Notice as to the membership of the Board will be published in the Federal Register at a later date. The NRC staff will complete a detailed technical review of the application and will document its findings in a safety evaluation report (SER). The Commission will refer a copy of the application to the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) in accordance with 10 CFR 52.87, “Referral to the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS),” and the ACRS will report on those portions of the application that concern safety.

Any person whose interest may be affected by this proceeding and desire to participate as a party to this proceeding, must file a written petition for leave to intervene in accordance with 10 CFR 2.309.

Those permitted to intervene become parties to the proceeding, subject to any limitations in the order granting leave to intervene, and have the opportunity to participate fully in the conduct of the hearing. A request for hearing or a petition for leave to intervene must be filed in accordance with the NRC E-Filing rule, which was promulgated by the NRC on August 28, 2007 (72 FR 49139). The E-Filing process requires participants to submit and serve 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 a waiver in accordance with the procedures described below.

To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at least five (5) days prior to the filing deadline, the petitioner/requestor must contact the Office of the Secretary by e-mail at [e-mail], or by calling [phone], to request (1) a digital ID certificate, which allows the participant (or its counsel or representative) to digitally sign documents and access the E-Submittal server for any proceeding in which it is participating; and/or (2) creation of an electronic docket for the proceeding even in instances in which the petitioner/requestor (or its counsel or representative) already holds a NRC-issued digital ID certificate. Each petitioner/requestor will need to download the Workplace Forms Viewer^tm to access the Electronic Information Exchange (EIE), a component of the E-Filing system. The Workplace Forms Viewer^tm is free and is available at http://www.nrc.gov/​site-help/​e-submittals/​install-viewer.html. Information about applying for a digital ID certificate is available on NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/​site-help/​e-submittals/​apply-certificates.html.

Once a petitioner/requestor has obtained a digital ID certificate, had a docket created, and downloaded the EIE viewer, it 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 public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/​site-help/​e-submittals.html. A filing is considered complete at the time the filer submits its documents through EIE. To be timely, an electronic filing must be submitted to the EIE system no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on the due date. Upon receipt of a transmission, the E-Filing system time-stamps the document and sends the submitter an e-mail notice confirming receipt of the document. The EIE system also distributes an e-mail notice that provides access to the document to the NRC 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 counsel or representative) must apply for and receive a digital ID 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 may seek assistance through the “Contact Us” link located on the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/​site-help/​e-submittals.html or by calling the NRC technical help line, which is available between 8:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday. The help line number is [phone] or locally, [phone].

Participants who believe that they have a good cause for not submitting documents electronically must file a motion, 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.

Non-timely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be entertained absent a determination by the Commission, the presiding officer, or the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that the petition and/or request should be granted and/or the contentions should be admitted based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR 2.309(c)(1)(i)-(viii). To be timely, filing must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on the due date.

Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in the NRC's electronic hearing docket, which is available to the public at http://ehd.nrc.gov/​EHD_​Procedding/​home.asp, unless excluded pursuant to an order of the Commission, an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, or a Presiding Officer. Participants are requested not to include personal privacy information, such as social security numbers, home addresses, or home phone numbers in the filing. With respect to copyrighted works, except for limited excerpts that serve the purpose of the adjudicatory filing and would constitute a Fair Use application, participants are requested not to include copyrighted materials in their submission.

Petitions for leave to intervene must be filed no later than 60 days from the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register. Non-timely filings will not be entertained absent a determination by the Commission, or Board designated to rule on the petition, pursuant to the requirements of 10 CFR 2.309(c)(1)(i)-(viii).

A person who is not a party may be permitted to make a limited appearance by making an oral or written statement of his position on the issues at any session of the hearing or any pre-hearing conference within the limits and conditions fixed by the presiding officer, but may not otherwise participate in the proceeding.

Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland, and will be accessible electronically through the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room link at the NRC Web site http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​adams.html. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to [e-mail]. The application is also available at http://www.nrc.gov/​reactors/​new-licensing/​col.html. The ADAMS accession number for the application is ML072830407. The ADAMS accession numbers for the supplements to the application are ML072740461, ML072960352, ML072960489, ML073190645, ML073340618, ML073200992, and ML073310616. Some of the supplements contain information that is sensitive and these supplements are not available to the public.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of December 2007.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Annette L. Vietti-Cook,

Secretary of the Commission.