[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 64 (Friday, April 3, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18262-18263]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-07710]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2008-0252; Docket Nos. 52-025 & 52-026; Combined License Nos. NPF-
91 & NPF-92]
In the Matter of Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (Vogtle
Electric Generating Plant, Units 3 & 4); Order Extending the Date by
Which the Direct Transfer of Licenses Is To Be Completed
I
Georgia Power Company, Oglethorpe Power Corporation, Municipal
Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power), the City of Dalton,
Georgia, an incorporated municipality in the State of Georgia citing by
and through its Board of Water, Light and Sinking Fund Commissioners
(City of Dalton), and Southern Nuclear Operating Co., Inc. (SNC)
(collectively, the owners) are holders of combined license (COL) Nos.
NPF-91 and NPF-92. These COLs authorize SNC to construct, possess, use,
and operate Vogtle Electric Generating Plant (VEGP), Units 3 and 4, and
the owners to possess but not operate VEGP, Units 3 and 4. The
facility, which is currently under construction, is adjacent to
existing VEGP, Units 1 and 2, on a 3,169-acre coastal plain bluff on
the southwest side of the Savannah River in eastern Burke County, GA.
The facility is approximately 15 miles east-northeast of Waynesboro,
GA, and 26 miles southeast of Augusta, GA.
II
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) order, dated April
29, 2014, approved three direct transfers of portions of MEAG Power's
22.7 percent undivided ownership interest in VEGP, Units 3 and 4. Each
of these three transfers may occur independently of, or in conjunction
with, the others, as follows:
(1) Transfer of a 7.6886571 percent undivided interest in VEGP,
Units 3 and 4, from MEAG Power to MEAG Power SPVM, LLC (Project M);
(2) transfer of a 9.3466423 percent undivided interest in VEGP,
Units 3 and 4, from MEAG Power to MEAG Power SPVJ, LLC (Project J); and
(3) transfer of a 5.6647006 percent undivided interest in VEGP,
Units 3 and 4, from MEAG Power to MEAG Power SPVP, LCC (Project P).
The application for the transfers was in connection with the
finalization of three loans from the U.S. Federal Finance Bank (U.S.
FFB) or one or more third-party lenders to be guaranteed by the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) through its loan guarantee program for the
development of advanced nuclear energy facilities. By its terms, the
April 29, 2014, order stated that, ``Should the transfer of the license
not be completed within one year of this Order's date of issue, this
Order shall become null and void, provided, however, that upon written
application and for good cause shown, such date may be extended by
order.''
III
By letter dated February 12, 2015, SNC on behalf of MEAG Power
requested that the April 29, 2014, order be extended by 6 months, to
October 29, 2015. SNC, in its February 12, 2015, letter states that:
Diligent efforts have been made to negotiate the definitive
financing agreements with the DOE. Those negotiations have, for the
most part, concluded. However, certain provisions in those
agreements necessitated amendments to preexisting long term ``cost
passthrough [sic]'' contracts between MEAG Power and the
counterparties (offtakers) to those contracts. While those
negotiations took much longer than MEAG Power anticipated when the
license transfer application was submitted in December 2013, those
negotiations have concluded, and amended contracts, dated December
31, 2014, were executed by MEAG Power and each of the offtakers. In
addition, on December 23, 2014, MEAG Power's board approved, in
substantially final form, the definitive financing agreements among
MEAG Power, the Project Companies, and DOE. All that remains at this
juncture is the receipt of certain promissory notes and other
financing documents from the U.S. FFB. At that point, MEAG Power
will be in a position to cause judicial proceedings to be instituted
in State court to validate the DOE-guaranteed loans (including the
definitive agreements) and the new offtake arrangements with the
project companies and to re-validate the existing arrangements
(including the bond resolutions and the amended offtake arrangements
with the offtakers), all of which include a validation of the
enforceability of all of these arrangements in connection with the
planned DOE-guaranteed loans. In addition to the validation
proceedings, DOE must also conclude its internal agency review of
the definitive agreements, which includes input from the U.S. Office
of Management and Budget (OMB). While MEAG Power is optimistic that
the judicial proceedings will result in validation of the agreements
and amended bond resolutions, which is a condition of the financial
closing of the DOE-guaranteed loans from the U.S. FFB, and that DOE
and OMB will favorably review the definitive loan agreements, it is
difficult to be certain that the final Federal review will be
concluded and the required State court order will be issued in time
to support a closing of the transactions by April 29, 2015.
SNC further states that there have been no changes in the
information and technical and financial qualifications presented in its
December 2, 2013, request to transfer the licenses. Moreover, the basis
for granting that request has not changed and remains valid. The NRC
staff notes that its basis for approving the transfers of MEAG Power's
licenses for VEGP, Units 3 and 4, is documented in its safety
evaluation supporting the April 29, 2014, order. Based on the foregoing
representations of SNC, the NRC staff concludes that the basis for
approval has not changed since the issuance of the April 29, 2014,
order.
The NRC staff has considered the submittal of February 12, 2015,
and has determined that good cause has been shown to extend by 6
months, until October 29, 2015, the date by which the license transfers
must be completed.
IV
Accordingly, under Sections 161b, 161i, and 184 of the Act, 42
U.S.C. Sections 2201(b), 2201(i), and 2234; and under Title 10,
``Energy,'' of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 50.80, ``Transfers
of Licenses--Creditors' Rights--Surrender of Licenses,'' It Is Hereby
Ordered that the order granting the direct license transfer, ``Order
Approving Transfer of License and Conforming Amendment,'' dated April
29, 2014, be extended by 6 months, to October 29, 2015. If the proposed
direct transfer of licenses is not completed by October 29, 2015, this
order and the
[[Page 18263]]
April 29, 2014, order shall become null and void. However, upon written
application and for good cause shown, the October 29, 2015, date may be
extended by further order.
This order is effective upon issuance. The order of April 29, 2014,
as modified by this order, remains in full force and effect.
For further details with respect to this order, see the submittal
dated February 12, 2015, which is available for public inspection at
the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), at One White Flint North,
11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1 F21 (First Floor), Rockville, Maryland
and accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System (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, 301-415-4737, or by
email to [email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 27th day of March 2015.
For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Glenn M. Tracy,
Director, Office of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2015-07710 Filed 4-2-15; 8:45 am]
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