26508 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 103 / Tuesday, May 28, 1996 / Notices

As stated in the ROD, DOE will not

accept LEU spent fuel from any

individual foreign research reactor until

the HEU spent fuel at that reactor has all

been shipped, unless there are

extenuating circumstances (e.g.,

deterioration of one or more LEU

elements sufficient to cause a safety

problem if acceptance were delayed). In

addition, DOE will not accept spent fuel

(HEU or LEU) from new foreign research

reactors starting operation after the date

of implementation of the policy.

The ROD specifies that the United

States will charge high-income-economy

countries a fee that will be published in

a separate Federal Register Notice (this

constitutes that notice). The ROD also

specifies that DOE will bear the full cost

of shipping and managing foreign

research reactor spent fuel from other

countries, including at-reactor

preparation. The countries from which

spent fuel would be accepted, and

definition of whether or not they are

considered to be high-income-economy

countries, are listed in the ROD and the

Final EIS. The Final EIS also identifies

the estimated number of spent nuclear

fuel shipments from each country, and

the estimated number of casks each

country would ship.

The fee will be no higher than $4,500

per kilogram of total mass (not heavy

metal mass) for aluminum based spent

fuel containing HEU and TRIGA spent

fuel, and no higher than $3,750 per

kilogram of total mass for aluminum

based spent fuel containing LEU. Total

mass includes, among other things, the

mass of cladding, structural materials,

the aluminum fuel matrix, overpack

canning. The actual fee will be

established in DOE’s spent fuel

acceptance contracts. These fees will be

used to cover all aspects of receipt and

management of the spent nuclear fuel by

DOE, including geologic disposal. The

cost of preparing the spent nuclear fuel

for shipment to the United States (e.g.,

inspection, documentation, and

canning, if necessary), and shipping the

spent nuclear fuel to a DOE spent fuel

management site in the the United

States, is not included in the fee and is

not an obligation of the United States.

These costs will be borne by the

individual reactor operators in highincome-economy countries. Fees are

due and payable upon DOE acceptance

of the spent nuclear fuel at the DOE

management site.

No fee is specified in this notice for

acceptance of target material. This fee

will be established separately at a later

time.

For spent fuel not covered by a valid,

signed DOE acceptance contract, DOE

reserves the right to modify the fee

upward or downward at any time to

respond to changed circumstances,

including a change in the cost of

managing the spent fuel in the United

States.

Issued at Washington, DC., on May 22,

1996.

Jill Lytle,

Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Nuclear

Material and Facility Stabilization

Environmental Management.

[FR Doc. 96–13283 Filed 5–24–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

Notice of Waste Acceptance, Storage,

and Transportation Services

AGENCY: Office of Civilian Radioactive

Waste Management, Department of

Energy.

ACTION: Request for expression of

interest and comments.

SUMMARY: The Office of Civilian

Radioactive Waste Management

(OCRWM) is responsible under the

Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as

amended (NWPA) for transporting spent

nuclear fuel (spent fuel) from

commercial nuclear reactor sites to a

Federal facility for storage or disposal.

The Standard Contract for Disposal of

Spent Fuel and/or High Level

Radioactive Waste (10 CFR part 961)

details the arrangements between the

Department and the owners and

generators of spent fuel (Purchasers) for

the Department to accept the spent fuel

at the Purchasers’ sites for transport to

the receiving Federal facility. Section

137(a)2 of the NWPA requires the

utilization of private industry to the

‘‘fullest extent possible’’ in the

transportation of spent fuel.

OCRWM is developing a plan for the

performance of its waste acceptance,

storage and transportation

responsibilities which are set forth in

the NWPA and Standard Contract and is

soliciting input from interested parties

as to its proposed approach.

DATES: Submissions of interest and

comments in response to this Notice

should be received by the Department

no later than three weeks from the date

of this announcement. A presolicitation

conference may be held this summer, if

so, a separate Notice will be issued

identifying the date. Respondents to this

Notice will be placed on a list to receive

additional information which may

include draft solicitation documents in

preparation for the presolicitation

conference.

ADDRESSES: Submissions of interest

including any comments should be sent

to: Michelle Miskinis, Contracting

Officer, U. S. Dept. Of Energy, 1000

Independence Ave. SW, Attention: HR–

561.21, Washington D.C. 20585.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms

Michelle Miskinis (DOE/HR–561.21),

202–634–4413 or Ms Beth Tomasoni

(DOE/HR–561.21), 202–634–4408.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

following describes key features of the

OCRWM proposed approach:

Scope of Services: DOE anticipates

contracting for supplies and services

which would include: accepting spentfuel from Purchasers’ facilities (as

identified in the Acceptance Priority

Ranking and Annual Capacity Reports

and supplying compatible

transportation (and possibly storage)

casks and equipment and transporting

spent-fuel to a designated Federal

facility. Contractors would also be

responsible for any intermodal transport

required, including heavy haul.

Contractors may be permitted to alter

the order of spent-fuel acceptance to

achieve efficiency of operation or to

lower costs. Contractors would work

with Purchasers to determine the best

way to service a site and would

recommend preferred transportation

routes to the Federal facility.

Contractors will also be required to

interface with those State, Local and

Tribal governments along the selected

routes.

The location and type of Federal

facility (either a repository or an interim

storage facility (ISF) cannot yet be

determined. Initially, spent-fuel

delivered to the Federal site would be

canistered before arrival at the facility,

but at some point in the service period

the contractor may be required to

handle uncanistered spent-fuel.

Transportation and storage equipment

to be supplied would be required to

comply with applicable Nuclear

Regulatory Commission (NRC) and

Department of Transportation (DOT)

regulations, OCRWM acceptance

criteria, and standard commercial

practices.

Contract Type: Competitive, fixedprice type, contracts are being

considered with a phased

implementation that includes sequential

development of business/servicing

plans describing contractors’ individual

approaches, fabrication/acquisition of

hardware, and transportation services

operations. More than one award is

anticipated. One approach under

consideration is to divide the country

into regions, for example, the four NRC

regions. No contractor would be

awarded more than two regional service

contracts. It is envisioned that there will

be several Requests for Proposals (RFPs)

issued over several decades for these
Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 103 / Tuesday, May 28, 1996 / Notices 26509

1Algonquin Gas proposes to rebuild the East

Providence meter station under its Subpart F

blanket certificate and associated environmental

requirements. Algonquin LNG will pay for the

rebuild.

services with more than one award

made under each RFP.

Contract Term: A contract term of five

to ten years is envisioned. This would

allow a contractor two to three years to

procure transportation and storage

equipment and achieve operational

readiness. Performance of waste

acceptance and transportation services

would take place over the remaining

period of any contract. A service period

spanning several years also would allow

contractors the flexibility to improve the

efficiency of operations and reduce

costs.

Schedule: Schedule specifics will be

addressed in any solicitation. For

planning purposes, it is expected that a

Federal facility could be in operation to

receive spent fuel within four years of

statutory direction, and contractors

could be expected to begin developing

service arrangements with Purchasers

two to three years before spent fuel

shipment.

Submissions of Interest

OCRWM is interested in receiving

expressions of interest and comments

relating to this proposed approach for

carrying out its waste acceptance,

transportation and any storage functions

especially with regard to the following

issues:

1. The ability of transportation service

contractors and individual Purchasers to

reach agreement on methods and

schedules for servicing specific utility

sites, including ways to foster Purchaser

cooperation.

2. The willingness of Purchasers to

construct temporary or permanent

physical plant modifications and to

obtain license amendments or technical

specification changes that would

improve the efficiency and reduce the

costs of loading and removal of spent

fuel from individual plants.

3. The reasonableness of dividing the

country into a number of regions to

preserve competition and industrial

capability in the marketplace, while still

ensuring low cost services to OCRWM.

4. The capability of the nuclear

industry to acquire sufficient spent fuel

canister, transportation cask, and

storage module production capacity to

meet near-term service contractor

requirements.

5. Potential business arrangements/

pricing structures which might increase

contractor freedom and flexibility to

develop and implement innovative

approaches to improve system

efficiency and lower costs, reduce or

eliminate the need for front-end

financing by OCRWM of contractor

activities and procurements, or mitigate

risks associated with programmatic

uncertainties.

6. Alternative methods of structuring

this procurement to ensure competition

on future procurements.

DOE will consider and may utilize all

information, recommendations, and

suggestions provided in response to this

notice. Respondents should not provide

any information that they consider to be

privileged or confidential or which the

respondent does not want disclosed to

the public. DOE does not intend to

respond to comments, either to

individual commentors or by

publication of a formal notice. Each

submittal should consist of one original

and three photocopies.

This notice should not be construed

(1) as a commitment by the Department

to enter into any agreement with any

entity submitting an expression of

interest or comments in response to this

Notice, (2) as a commitment to issue any

RFP concerning the subject of this

Notice, or (3) as a request for proposals.

Issued in Washington, DC, on May 21,

1996.

Scott Sheffield,

Director, Headquarters Operation Division

‘‘B’’, Office of Placement and Administration.

[FR Doc. 96–13244 Filed 5–24–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. CP96–517–000]

Algonquin LNG, Inc.; Notice of

Application

May 21, 1996.

Take Notice that on May 13, 1996,

Algonquin LNG, Inc. (Algonquin LNG),

1284 Soldiers Field Road, Boston,

Massachusetts, 02135, filed in Docket

No. CP96–517–000 an application for a

certificate of public convenience and

necessity under Section 7(c) of the

Natural Gas Act (NGA) and a request for

abandonment of services and facilities

under Section 7(b) of the NGA.

Algonquin LNG seeks authorization for

new services and facilities so that it will

have the enhanced flexibility to receive

from its customers natural gas to be

liquefied and stored as liquefied natural

gas (LNG), and to withdraw and deliver,

as requested by its customer(s), such

natural gas in liquid or gaseous form.

Algonquin LNG’s proposal is more fully

set forth in its application which is on

file with the Commission and open for

public inspection.

Specifically, Algonquin LNG seeks

authorization to:

(1) acquire, own, and operate existing

pipeline facilities for the purpose of

connecting its storage facility to the

interstate pipeline grid;

(2) construct, own, and operate new

pipeline, liquefaction, high-pressure

vaporization, metering, and ancillary

facilities; and,

(3) provide an enhanced LNG firm

and interruptible handling service,

which will include natural gas

liquefaction, LNG storage and LNG

vaporization on an open access, selfimplementing blanket basis.

Algonquin LNG also wants the

Commission to:

(4) approve the terms and conditions

of a restated and revised FERC Gas

Tariff;

(5) approve a Blanket Certificate

under Part 157, Subpart F, of the

Commission’s Regulations for the

construction from time to time of

eligible facilities other than those at the

LNG plant site; and,

(6) authorize the abandonment,

pursuant to Section 7(b) of the NGA, of

the services it presently provides, and

the low-pressure vaporizers and certain

other facilities currently in service at

Algonquin LNG’s site.

Algonquin LNG currently owns and

operates a 600,000 barrel LNG storage

facility located at a site on the west bank

of the Providence River in Providence,

Rhode Island. Algonquin LNG utilizes

such LNG storage facility to provide

firm and interruptible open access LNG

storage and vaporization service

approved under Part 284 of the

Commission’s regulations pursuant to

Algonquin LNG’s Rate Schedules FST–

LG and IST–LG. Algonquin LNG says

that its current LNG plant does not have

direct access to the interstate pipeline

grid, but that vaporized LNG is

delivered into the interstate system via

displacement through the local

distribution facilities of Providence Gas

Company (Providence Gas).

Algonquin LNG proposes by this

application to enhance its LNG storage

services by installing liquefaction

capability at its LNG plant and to

establish a direct connection to the

interstate pipeline grid. Algonquin LNG

will acquire two 10-inch lines under the

Providence River near its LNG plant

from Providence gas and will construct

one mile of new 20-inch line to connect

the river crossing with Algonquin Gas

Transmission Company’s (Algonquin

Gas) mainline.1 Algonquin LNG will

also construct liquefaction facilities

capable of liquefying natural gas at a

rate of 40,000 MMBtu/d, and