The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has finalized a rule Oct. 30 that would change the agency’s contested hearings process for its licensing applications and create three hearing paths.
The three hearing tracks are: standard, focused and expedited. The standard proceeding will be for 18-month reviews, focused will be for 12-month reviews and expedited for “faster reviews,” according to NRC’s pre-published Federal Register notice. The agency said in its press release the “simplest cases” could be resolved in nearly six months.
NRC has scheduled the Federal Register notice of the rule to be published on Tuesday, according to the Federal Register website. It will go into effect 30 days after it is published. NRC first proposed this rule in March.
For the standard proceeding, the agency will include a “standard hearing completion date” in hearing notices, allowing applicants and the public members a “clear expectation for when the NRC intends to complete the proceeding,” NRC said.
Among the changes, NRC will shift the hearing proceedings to when NRC staff to “start as soon as practicable once a contested issue or ‘contention’, is admitted,” according to the release. This change will move the contested hearing process from when NRC staff would complete its technical review of an application.
NRC said this change would take several months off of the proceedings process and create a more streamlined pathway to resolve contested issues during NRC staff’s technical review rather than after the review.
“This rule preserves public participation while making the hearing process more efficient,” NRC Chairman Ho Nieh said. “This is another example of how the NRC is enabling the safe and secure deployment and expansion of nuclear technologies in America.”
This rulemaking comes from the direction of Executive Order 14300 and the Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act — or the ADVANCE Act. When the rule goes into effect, it will only apply to contested hearing prospects after that date, NRC said.
