E7-5641. Notice of Consideration of Approval of Transfer of Facility Licenses and Conforming Amendments, and Opportunity for a Hearing

General Electric Company; Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor (Docket No. 50-18); General Electric Test Reactor (Docket No. 50-70); Nuclear Test Reactor (Docket No. 50-73); Esada Vallecitos Experimental Superheat Reactor (Docket No. 50-183)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is considering the issuance of an order under 10 CFR 50.80 approving the direct transfer of the Facility Licenses, which are numbered DPR-1 for the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor (VBWR), TR-1 for the General Electric Test Reactor (GETR), R-33 for the Nuclear Test Reactor (NTR), and DR-10 for the ESADA Vallecitos Experimental Superheat Reactor (EVESR) currently held by General Electric Company, as owner and licensed operator. The transfer would be to GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC. The Commission is also considering amending the licenses for administrative purposes to reflect the proposed transfer.

According to an application for approval filed by General Electric Company, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC, a newly formed entity, would acquire ownership of the facilities following approval of the proposed license transfer, and would be responsible for the operations and maintenance of the VBWR, GETR, NTR and EVESR facilities. This new entity will be wholly owned by GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Holdings, LLC, created as a parent company. A U.S. subsidiary or subsidiaries of Hitachi Ltd, a Japanese company, will hold a 40% ownership interest in GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Holdings, LLC and the General Electric Company, through various subsidiaries, will hold a 60% ownership interest.

No physical changes to the facilities or other changes are being proposed in the application.

The proposed amendments would replace references to General Electric Company in the licenses with references to GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC, to reflect the proposed transfer.

Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80, no license, or any right thereunder, shall be transferred, directly or indirectly, through transfer of control of the license, unless the Commission shall give its consent in writing. The Commission will approve an application for the direct transfer of a license, if the Commission determines that the proposed transferee is qualified to hold the license and that the transfer is otherwise consistent with applicable provisions of law, regulations, and orders issued by the Commission pursuant thereto.

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 Commission's regulations.

As provided in 10 CFR 2.1315, unless otherwise determined by the Commission with regard to a specific application, the Commission has determined that any amendment to the license of a utilization facility which does no more than conform the license to reflect the transfer action involves no significant hazards consideration. No contrary determination has been made with respect to this specific license amendment application. In light of the generic determination reflected in 10 CFR 2.1315, no public comments with respect to significant hazards considerations are being solicited, notwithstanding the general comment procedures contained in 10 CFR 50.91.

The filing of requests for hearing and petitions for leave to intervene, and written comments with regard to the license transfer application, are discussed below.

Within 20 days from the date of publication of this notice, any person whose interest may be affected by the Commission's action on the application may request a hearing and, if not the applicant, may petition for leave to intervene in a hearing proceeding on the Commission's action. Requests for a hearing and petitions for leave to intervene should be filed in accordance with the Commission's rules of practice set forth in Subpart C “Rules of General Applicability: Hearing Requests, Petitions to Intervene, Availability of Documents, Selection of Specific Hearing Procedures, Presiding Officer Powers, and General Hearing Management for NRC Adjudicatory Hearings,” of 10 CFR Part 2. In particular, such requests and petitions must comply with the requirements set forth in 10 CFR 2.309. Untimely requests and petitions may be denied, as provided in 10 CFR 2.309(c)(1), unless good cause for failure to file on time is established. In addition, an untimely request or petition should address the factors that the Commission will also consider, in reviewing untimely requests or petitions, set forth in 10 CFR 2.309(c)(1)(i)-(viii).

Requests for a hearing and petitions for leave to intervene should be served upon Mr. Donald J. Silverman, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP, 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20004 (tel: [phone]; fax: [phone]; e-mail: [e-mail]); the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001 (e-mail address for filings regarding license transfer cases only: [e-mail]); and the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, in accordance with 10 CFR 2.302 and 2.305.

The Commission will issue a notice or order granting or denying a hearing request or intervention petition, designating the issues for any hearing that will be held and designating the Presiding Officer. A notice granting a hearing will be published in the Federal Register and served on the parties to the hearing.

As an alternative to requests for hearing and petitions to intervene, within 30 days from the date of publication of this notice, persons may submit written comments regarding the license transfer application, as provided for in 10 CFR 2.1305. The Commission will consider and, if appropriate, respond to these comments, but such comments will not otherwise constitute part of the decisional record. Comments should be submitted to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, and should cite the publication date and page number of this Federal Register notice.

For further details with respect to this action, see the application dated January 19, 2007, available for public inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agency wide Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet 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 the 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].

Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 21st day of March 2007.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Marvin M. Mendonca,

Senior Project Manager, Research and Test Reactors Branch B, Division of Policy and Rulemaking, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.