Entergy Gulf States, Inc., River Bend Station, Unit 1; Notice of Consideration of Approval of Transfer of Facility Operating License and Conforming Amendment and Opportunity for a Hearing

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is considering the issuance of an order under 10 CFR 50.80 approving the direct transfer of the Facility Operating License (No. NPF-47) for the River Bend Station, Unit 1 (RBS), to the extent currently held by Entergy Gulf States, Inc. (EGS), as owner of RBS. The transfer would be to Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C. (EGS-LA), a Louisiana limited liability company. Entergy Operations, Inc. (EOI), the licensed operator of the facility, will remain as such and will continue to operate RBS. The Commission is also considering amending the license for administrative purposes to reflect the proposed transfer.

According to an application for approval filed by EGS and EOI, both EGS and EOI are direct subsidiaries of Entergy Corporation. Under a proposed restructuring, EGS will merge into EGS-LA, with EGS-LA being the surviving entity. EGS-LA, will own all of EGS' Louisiana assets, including RBS, except for EGS' undivided ownership interests in Big Cajun, Unit 2 and the Nelson 6 coal plants, which will be jointly owned with Entergy Texas, Inc. (ETI), a company to be formed by EGS.

Once these and other steps of the restructuring are competed, EGS-LA will serve EGS' current retail customers in Louisiana and EGS' current wholesale customers, and ETI will serve EGS' current retail customers in Texas. EGS-LA's retail utility operations will be subject to the jurisdiction of the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) to the same extent that LPSC currently possesses jurisdiction over EGS' retail utility operations. EGS-LA will succeed to and assume all of EGS' jurisdictional tariffs, rate schedules, and service agreements, and provide electric service to EGS' customers without interruption.

EOI operates RBS pursuant to an Operating Agreement with EGS. EOI will continue to operate RBS and the current Operating Agreement will be amended to reflect the new owner of the plant. EOI will not be affected by the restructuring.

No physical changes to the RBS facility or operational changes are being proposed in the application.

The proposed amendment would replace references to Entergy Gulf States, Inc., in the license with references to Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C., 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 amendment, 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 Terence A. Burke, Associate General Counsel—Nuclear, Entergy Services, Inc., 1340 Echelon Parkway, Jackson MS 39213; the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001 (e-mail address for filings regarding license transfer cases only: OGCLT@NRC.gov); 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 May 29, 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 Agencywide 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 pdr@nrc.gov.