10 CFR 950.3 – Definitions
For the purposes of this part:
Terms Used In 10 CFR 950.3
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. Source: FDIC
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
Act means the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Advanced nuclear facility means any nuclear facility the reactor design for which is approved after December 31, 1993, by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (and such design or a substantially similar design of comparable capacity was not approved on or before that date).
Available indemnification means $500 million with respect to the initial two reactors and $250 million with respect to the subsequent four reactors.
Claims administrator means the official in the Department of Energy responsible for the administration of the Standby Support Contracts, including the responsibility to approve or disapprove claims submitted by a sponsor for payment of covered costs under the Standby Support Contract.
Combined license means a combined construction and operating license (COL) for an advanced nuclear facility issued by the Commission.
Commencement of construction means the point in time when a sponsor initiates the pouring of safety-related concrete for the reactor building.
Commission means the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
Conditional Agreement means a contractual agreement between the Department and a sponsor under which the Department will execute a Standby Support Contract with the sponsor if and only if the sponsor is one of the first six sponsors to satisfy the conditions precedent to execution of a Standby Support Contract, and if funding and other applicable contractual, statutory and regulatory requirements are satisfied.
Construction means the construction activities related to the advanced nuclear facility encompassed in the time period after commencement of construction and before the initiation of fuel load for the advanced nuclear facility.
Covered cost means:
(1) Principal or interest on any debt obligation financing an advanced nuclear facility (but excluding charges due to a borrower’s failure to meet a debt obligation unrelated to the delay); and
(2) Incremental costs that are incurred as a result of covered delay.
Covered delay means a delay in the attainment of full power operation of an advanced nuclear facility caused by a covered event, as defined by this section.
Covered event means an event that may result in a covered delay due to:
(1) The failure of the Commission to comply with schedules for review and approval of inspections, tests, analyses and acceptance criteria established under the combined license;
(2) The conduct of pre-operational hearings by the Commission for the advanced nuclear facility; or
(3) Litigation that delays the commencement of full power operations of the advanced nuclear facility.
Department means the United States Department of Energy.
Full power operation means the point at which the sponsor first synchronizes the advanced nuclear facility to the electrical grid.
Grant account means the account established by the Secretary that receives appropriations or non-Federal funds in an amount sufficient to cover the amount of incremental costs for which indemnification is available under a Standby Support Contract.
Incremental costs means the incremental difference between:
(1) The fair market price of power purchased to meet the contractual supply agreements that would have been met by the advanced nuclear facility but for a covered delay; and
(2) The contractual price of power from the advanced nuclear facility subject to the delay.
Initial two reactors means the first two reactors covered by Standby Support Contracts that receive a combined license and commence construction.
Litigation means adjudication in Federal, State, local or tribal courts, including appeals of Commission decisions related to the combined license process to such courts, but excluding administrative litigation that occurs at the Commission related to the combined license process.
Loan cost means the net present value of the estimated cash flows of:
(1) Payments by the government to cover defaults and delinquencies, interest subsidies, or other payments; and
(2) Payments to the government including origination and other fees, penalties and recoveries, as outlined under the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990.
Pre-operational hearing means any Commission hearing that is provided for in 10 CFR part 52, after issuance of the combined license.
Program account means the account established by the Secretary that receives appropriations or loan guarantee fees in an amount sufficient to cover the loan costs.
Program administrator means the Department official authorized by the Secretary to represent the Department in the administration and management of the Standby Support Program, including negotiating with and entering into a Conditional Agreement or a Standby Support Contract with a sponsor.
Related party means the sponsor’s parent company, a subsidiary of the sponsor, or a subsidiary of the parent company of the sponsor.
Secretary means the Secretary of Energy or a designee.
Sponsor means a person whose application for a combined license for an advanced nuclear facility has been docketed by the Commission.
Standby Support Contract means the contract that, when entered into by a sponsor and the Program Administrator pursuant to section 638 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 after satisfaction of the conditions in § 950.12 and any other applicable contractual, statutory and regulatory requirements, establishes the obligation of the Department to compensate covered costs in the event of a covered delay subject to the terms and conditions specified in the Standby Support Contract.
Standby Support Program means the program established by section 638 of the Act as administered by the Department of Energy.
Subsequent four reactors means the next four reactors covered by Standby Support Contracts, after the initial two reactors, which receive a combined license and commence construction.
System-level construction schedule means an electronic critical path method schedule identifying the dates and durations of plant systems installation (but excluding details of components or parts installation), sequences and interrelationships, and milestone dates from commencement of construction through full power operation, using software acceptable to the Department.