[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 237 (Friday, December 9, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77021-77022]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-31635]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2011-0283; License No. NPF-63; Docket No. 50-400]
In the Matter of Carolina Power & Light Company, North Carolina
Eastern Municipal Power Agency Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit
1; Order Approving Indirect Transfer of Control of License
I
Carolina Power & Light Company (CP&L, the licensee) and North
Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency are the owners of Shearon
Harris Nuclear Power Plant (Harris), Unit 1. With respect to their
ownership, they are coholders of Renewed Facility Operating License No.
NPF-63. The Harris facility consists of a single unit Westinghouse
three-loop pressurized water reactor located in Wake and Chatham
Counties, North Carolina. The facility operating license authorizes
CP&L to possess, use, and operate the Harris facility.
II
By application dated March 30, 2011 (Agencywide Documents Access
and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML11110A031), as
supplemented by letter dated September 2, 2011 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML11255A129) (collectively hereinafter referred to as the application),
the licensee requested, on its own behalf, pursuant to Section 184 of
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and Section 50.80 of Title
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), that the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) consent to the proposed
indirect transfer of control of facility operating license to for
Harris, Unit 1, to the extent held by CP&L. The proposed indirect
transfer of control of the Harris license results from the planned
corporate merger between Progress Energy, Inc. (Progress Energy) and
Duke Energy Corporation (Duke Energy). Progress Energy is CP&L's
ultimate parent corporation. As part of the transaction, Progress
Energy will merge with Diamond Acquisition Corporation, a wholly owned
subsidiary of Duke Energy. Progress Energy will be the surviving entity
and will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Duke Energy. Progress
Energy will become an intermediate parent corporation of CP&L.
The ownership interest in Harris held by CP&L is 83.83 percent and
that held by North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency is 16.17
percent. CP&L is
[[Page 77022]]
the sole operator of Harris. The proposed indirect transfer of control
of the Brunswick operating license will not result in any change in the
role of the CP&L as the licensed operator and owner of the licensed
facilities and will not result in any changes to its financial
qualifications, decommissioning funding assurance, or technical
qualifications. CP&L will retain the requisite qualifications to own
and operate the licensed facility. North Carolina Eastern Municipal
Power Agency is not involved in the proposed transaction and will
continue to own 16.17 percent of Harris facility.
Approval of the indirect transfer of control of the facility
operating license was requested by CP&L. A notice entitled, ``Notice of
Consideration of Approval of Application for Indirect License Transfers
Resulting from the Proposed Merger Between Progress Energy, Inc. and
Duke Energy Corporation, and Opportunity for Hearing,'' was published
in the Federal Register on August 30, 2011 (76 FR 53967). No comments
or hearing requests were received.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80(a), no license, or any right thereunder,
shall be transferred, directly or indirectly, through transfer of
control of the license, unless the NRC shall give its consent in
writing. Upon review of the information in the application and other
information before the Commission, and relying on the representations
in the application, the NRC staff has determined that the proposed
indirect transfer of control of the Harris license to the extent held
by CP&L, to the extent affected by the planned corporate merger between
Progress Energy and Duke Energy Corporation, will not affect the
qualifications of CP&L as holder of the Harris license and is otherwise
consistent with the applicable provisions of law, regulations, and
orders issued by the NRC, pursuant thereto. The findings set forth
above are supported by a safety evaluation dated December 2, 2011.
III
Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 161b, 161i, 161o, and 184 of the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. Sections 2201(b),
2201(i), 2201(o), and 2234 respectively); and 10 CFR 50.80, it is
hereby ordered that the application regarding the indirect license
transfer related to the proposed merger is approved.
It is further ordered that after receipt of all required regulatory
approvals of the proposed indirect transfer action, CP&L shall inform
the Director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation in writing of
the date of the closing of the corporate merger of Progress Energy and
Duke Energy. Should the indirect transfer of control of the licenses
not be completed by December 2, 2012, this Order shall become null and
void, provided, however, upon written application and good cause shown,
such date may be extended by order of the Commission.
This Order is effective upon issuance.
For further details with respect to this Order, see the initial
application dated March 30, 2011, as supplemented by letter dated
September 2, 2011, and the Safety Evaluation dated December 2, 2011,
which are available for public inspection at the Commission's Public
Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area
01 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland.
Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC are
accessible electronically through ADAMS at 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 email to [email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day of December 2011.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Michele G. Evans,
Director, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2011-31635 Filed 12-8-11; 8:45 am]
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