In the Matter of Dairyland Power Cooperative; La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor

Citation84 FR 52146
Record Number2019-21303
Published date01 October 2019
SectionNotices
CourtNuclear Regulatory Commission
Federal Register, Volume 84 Issue 190 (Tuesday, October 1, 2019)
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 190 (Tuesday, October 1, 2019)]
                [Notices]
                [Pages 52146-52148]
                From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
                [FR Doc No: 2019-21303]
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                NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
                [Docket Nos. 50-409 and 72-046; EA-19-077; NRC-2019-0110]
                In the Matter of Dairyland Power Cooperative; La Crosse Boiling
                Water Reactor
                AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
                ACTION: Direct transfer of license; order.
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                SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an
                order approving the direct transfer of Possession Only License No. DPR-
                45 for the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor (LACBWR), with respect to
                NRC-licensed possession, maintenance, and decommissioning authorities,
                from the current holder, LaCrosseSolutions, LLC (LS), to Dairyland
                Power Cooperative (DPC), which held these authorities prior to
                transferring them to LS on June 1, 2016, and which is currently the
                licensed owner of LACBWR. The NRC is also amending the facility
                operating license for administrative purposes to reflect the license
                transfer from LS to DPC. The NRC determined that DPC is qualified to be
                the holder of the license and that the transfer of the license is
                otherwise consistent with applicable provisions of law, regulations,
                and orders issued by the Commission. The Order approving the transfer
                of the LACBWR license to DPC became effective on September 24, 2019.
                DATES: The Order was issued on September 24, 2019, and is effective for
                one year.
                ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2019-0110 when contacting the
                NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
                may obtain publicly-available information related to this document
                using any of the following methods:
                 Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2019-0110. Address
                questions about NRC docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges;
                telephone: 301-287-9127; email: [email protected]. For technical
                questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
                CONTACT section of this document.
                 NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
                (ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the
                ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS
                Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public
                Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or
                by email to [email protected]. The license transfer Order, the NRC
                safety evaluation supporting the staff's findings, and the conforming
                license amendment are available in ADAMS under Accession Nos.
                ML19008A396, ML19008A397, and ML19008A394, respectively.
                 NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
                documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555
                Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
                FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marlayna Vaaler Doell, Office of
                Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
                Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-3178; email:
                [email protected].
                SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of the Order is attached.
                 Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of September, 2019.
                 For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
                John W. Lubinski,
                Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
                Attachment--Order Approving the Transfer of License and Conforming
                Amendment
                UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
                NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
                 In the Matter of LaCrosseSolutions, LLC, La Crosse Boiling Water
                Reactor EA-19-077
                Docket Nos.: 50-409 and 72-046
                License No.: DPR-45
                ORDER APPROVING THE TRANSFER OF LICENSE AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT
                I.
                 LaCrosseSolutions, LLC (LS) is the holder of Possession Only
                License No. DPR-45, with respect to the possession, maintenance, and
                decommissioning of the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor (LACBWR). LACBWR
                was an Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Demonstration Project Reactor
                that first achieved criticality in 1967, that commenced commercial
                operation in
                [[Page 52147]]
                November 1969, and that was capable of producing 50 megawatts of
                electricity. LACBWR is located on the east bank of the Mississippi
                River in Vernon County, Wisconsin, about 1 mile south of the Village of
                Genoa, Wisconsin, and approximately 19 miles south of the city of La
                Crosse, Wisconsin, and is co-located with the Genoa Generating Station
                (Genoa 3), which is a coal-fired power plant that is still in
                operation. The Allis-Chalmers Company was the original licensee of
                LACBWR; the AEC later sold the plant to the Dairyland Power Cooperative
                (DPC) and granted it Provisional Operating License No. DPR-45 on August
                28, 1973.
                 LACBWR permanently ceased operations on April 30, 1987. DPC applied
                to amend the LACBWR license to a possession-only license on May 22,
                1987, and completed reactor defueling on June 11, 1987. In a letter
                dated August 4, 1987, the NRC terminated DPC's authority to operate
                LACBWR and granted the licensee possess-but-not-operate status. By
                letter dated August 18, 1988, the NRC amended DPC's license to reflect
                the permanently defueled configuration at LACBWR.
                 The NRC issued an order authorizing the decommissioning of LACBWR
                and approving the licensee's proposed Decommissioning Plan (DP) on
                August 7, 1991. Because the NRC approved DPC's DP before August 28,
                1996 (the effective date of an NRC final rule concerning power reactor
                decommissioning (61 FR 39278; July 29, 1996)), the DP is considered the
                Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) for LACBWR. The
                PSDAR public meeting was held on May 13, 1998, and subsequent updates
                to the LACBWR decommissioning report have combined the DP and PSDAR
                into the ``LACBWR Decommissioning Plan and Post-Shutdown
                Decommissioning Activities Report.'' DPC constructed an onsite
                Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) and completed the
                movement of all 333 spent nuclear fuel elements from the Fuel Element
                Storage Well to dry cask storage at the ISFSI by September 19, 2012.
                 By order dated May 20, 2016, the NRC approved the direct transfer
                of Possession Only License No. DPR-45 for LACBWR from DPC to LS, a
                wholly-owned subsidiary of EnergySolutions, LLC, which was created for
                the sole purpose of completing the dismantlement and remediation
                activities at the LACBWR site. The order was published in the Federal
                Register on June 2, 2016 (81 FR 35383). The transfer assigned DPC's
                NRC-licensed possession, maintenance, and decommissioning authorities
                for LACBWR to LS in order to implement expedited decommissioning at the
                LACBWR site. Final decommissioning activities at LACBWR are scheduled
                to be completed in 2019 and the LACBWR License Termination Plan (LTP)
                was approved by the NRC on May 21, 2019.
                II.
                 By letter dated June 27, 2018 (Agencywide Documents Access and
                Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML18184A444), as supplemented
                by letter dated December 3, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18341A138), LS
                and DPC (collectively, the applicants) submitted an application,
                pursuant to Section 184 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended,
                and Section 50.80, ``Transfer of licenses,'' of Title 10 of the Code of
                Federal Regulations (10 CFR), requesting NRC consent for the direct
                transfer of LS's Possession Only License No. DPR-45 for LACBWR to DPC.
                Specifically, LS intends to transfer its NRC-licensed possession,
                maintenance, and decommissioning authorities back to DPC upon the
                completion of decommissioning activities at the LACBWR site.
                 DPC is currently the licensed owner of LACBWR; it holds title to
                and ownership of the real estate encompassing most of the LACBWR site,
                as well as lease hold interests for the remaining portions of the site;
                title to and ownership of the spent nuclear fuel; and title to and
                ownership of all improvements at the LACBWR site. LS currently
                maintains a lease for the above-ground LACBWR structures (other than
                the LACBWR ISFSI) and previously assumed responsibility for all NRC-
                licensed activities at the LACBWR site, including responsibility under
                the license to complete decommissioning. LS will relinquish any
                remaining lease rights it holds at the site upon the completion of
                decommissioning.
                 Upon the execution of the license transfer, DPC will maintain the
                onsite ISFSI and the ultimate disposition of the spent nuclear fuel
                will be provided for under the terms of DPC's Standard Contract for
                Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and/or High Level Waste with the U.S.
                Department of Energy. DPC will also continue to maintain its nuclear
                decommissioning trust, an external trust in which funds are segregated
                from its assets and outside its administrative control, in accordance
                with the requirements of 10 CFR 50.75(e)(1).
                 The application also requested approval of a conforming amendment
                to the license pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80 and 10 CFR 50.90, ``Application
                for amendment of license, construction permit, or early site permit.''
                No physical or operational changes to the facility were requested
                beyond those encompassed in the LACBWR PSDAR and LTP. Notice of the
                application was published in the Federal Register on October 11, 2018
                (83 FR 51509). The supplemental letter dated December 3, 2018, provided
                additional information that clarified the application, did not expand
                the scope of the application as originally noticed, and did not change
                the NRC staff's no significant hazards consideration determination. No
                requests for hearing or comments were received.
                 Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80, no license, or any right thereunder,
                shall be transferred, either voluntarily or involuntarily, directly or
                indirectly, through transfer of control of the license to any person,
                unless the Commission gives its consent in writing. Upon review of the
                information in the application and other information before the
                Commission, and relying upon the representations and agreements
                contained in the application, the NRC staff has determined that DPC is
                qualified to be the holder of the license and that the transfer of the
                license to DPC, as described in the application, is otherwise
                consistent with applicable provisions of law, regulations, and orders
                issued by the Commission pursuant thereto, subject to the condition set
                forth below.
                 Upon review of the application for a conforming amendment to the
                LACBWR license to reflect the transfer to DPC, the NRC staff determined
                the following:
                 (1) The application for the proposed license amendment complies
                with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954,
                as amended (the Act), and the Commission's rules and regulations set
                forth in 10 CFR Chapter I.
                 (2) There is reasonable assurance that the activities authorized by
                the proposed license amendment can be conducted without endangering the
                health and safety of the public, and that such activities will be
                conducted in compliance with the Commission's regulations.
                 (3) The issuance of the proposed license amendment will not be
                inimical to the common defense and security or to the health and safety
                of the public.
                 (4) The issuance of the proposed license amendment is in accordance
                with 10 CFR part 51, ``Environmental Protection Regulations for
                Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions,'' of the
                Commission's
                [[Page 52148]]
                regulations and all applicable requirements have been satisfied.
                 The findings set forth above are supported by an NRC safety
                evaluation dated September 24, 2019, which is available at ADAMS
                Accession No. ML19008A397.
                III.
                 Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 161b, 161i, and 184 of the Act,
                42 U.S.C. Sections 2201(b), 2201(i), and 2234; and 10 CFR 50.80, it is
                hereby ordered that the transfer of the license, as described herein,
                to DPC is approved, subject to the following condition:
                 Prior to the closing of the license transfer from LS to DPC, DPC
                shall provide satisfactory documentary evidence to the Director of
                the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) at the
                NRC that it has obtained or continues to possess the appropriate
                amount of insurance required of a licensee under 10 CFR 140.12 and
                10 CFR 50.54(w) of the Commission's regulations, consistent with the
                exemptions issued to LACBWR on June 26, 1986, and July 24, 2018.
                 It is further ordered that, consistent with 10 CFR 2.1315(b), the
                license amendment that makes changes, as indicated in Enclosure 2 to
                the cover letter forwarding this Order, to conform the license to
                reflect the subject direct license transfer is approved. The amendment
                shall be issued and made effective at the time the proposed direct
                license transfer is completed.
                 It is further ordered that, after receipt of all required
                regulatory approvals of the proposed direct license transfer, DPC shall
                inform the Director of NMSS in writing of such receipt, and of the date
                of closing of the transfer, no later than 2 business days prior to the
                date of closing of the direct license transfer. Should the proposed
                direct license transfer not be completed within 1 year of this Order's
                date of issuance, 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. This Order is effective upon issuance.
                 For further details with respect to this Order, see the application
                dated June 27, 2018, as supplemented by letter dated December 3, 2018,
                and the associated NRC safety evaluation dated September 24, 2019,
                which are 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 documents created or received at the NRC are
                accessible electronically through ADAMS in the NRC Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who encounter problems with
                ADAMS should contact the NRC's 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 24th day of September 2019.
                 For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
                John W. Lubinski,
                Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
                [FR Doc. 2019-21303 Filed 9-30-19; 8:45 am]
                 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
                

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