OAK HARBOR, Ohio — The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved license transfers of Akron-based Energy Harbor Nuclear Corp.’s Davis-Besse, Perry, and twin-reactor Beaver Valley plants to Texas-based Vistra Operations Co., LLC.

In a news release issued Friday afternoon, the federal regulatory agency said the transfer is part of VistraOps’ acquisition of Energy Harbor’s nuclear assets.

"This is an important step in the acquisition process and is evidence of Vistra's strong technical and financial qualifications, as we have demonstrated over the past 30-plus years with our Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant," Jim Burke, Vistra president and chief executive officer, said in a statement issued by the company. "We are excited about this opportunity to invest in nuclear power, which plays a critical and unique role in our nation's responsible energy transition as a baseload, carbon-free source of power."

Energy Harbor spokesman Todd Morgano was not available for comment.

Davis-Besse is in Ottawa County, along the Lake Erie shoreline, and about 30 miles east of downtown Toledo. Perry is in Lake County, along the Lake Erie shoreline, and about 35 miles northeast of Cleveland. The Beaver Valley complex has two reactors along the Ohio River near Shippingport, Pa. The site is about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

VistraOps owns the twin-unit Comanche Peak nuclear power complex near Glen Rose, Texas, and spent fuel storage facilities there.

The NRC told Vistra in writing earlier this year that both of its two units were operated in 2022 in the agency’s highest performance category.

“The NRC staff’s review of the license transfer application concluded that VistraOps is financially and technically qualified to conduct the activities authorized by the licenses,” the news release, released by the NRC’s headquarters in suburban Washington, states. “The NRC staff also concluded that VistraOps satisfies the NRC’s decommissioning funding assurance requirements, and that the facilities are not owned, controlled, or dominated by a foreign entity.”

The two corporations announced on March 6 that they had reached a tentative agreement on a plan in which Vistra would acquire Energy Harbor and its nuclear assets for $3.4 billion.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission notified the two companies in August, through a nine-page “Deficiency Letter,” that it needed more information in several key areas, such as relevant geographic markets, transmission constraints, price separation, contracts related to the proposed transaction and passive interests, delivered price test, and any potential issues with the Duke Energy Ohio-Kentucky transmission zone and local deliverability area.

In a 40-page filing with FERC on June 23, Ohio Consumers’ Counsel Bruce Weston and others argued that the proposed merger would put competitive electric markets in Ohio at risk. They asked for the deal to be rejected as deficient by FERC, or that an evidentiary hearing be scheduled.

Meranda Cohn, a Vistra senior communications official, responded by saying back then that the plan to acquire Energy Harbor nuclear assets “is pro-consumer and pro-competition.”

First Published September 29, 2023, 10:30 p.m.