NRC approves simplified mandatory hearings

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is simplifying procedures for mandatory hearings on licensing commercial nuclear power plants and uranium enrichment facilities.

Mandatory hearings, informally called "uncontested" hearings, for power reactors will now involve written materials without oral presentations, with the NRC as presiding officer. The changes are effective immediately and will be employed in the mandatory hearing anticipated later this year for the Hermes 2 advanced reactor review.

Uranium production: Hearings for uranium enrichment facilities will be delegated to the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel with case-specific NRC direction for streamlined procedures.

The agency is required by law to conduct hearings and evaluate the NRC staff's review before issuing combined licenses, construction permits, and early site permits for power reactors or licenses for construction and operation of uranium enrichment facilities. The NRC and the ASLBP have conducted 21 mandatory hearings over the past 20 years. These have typically involved oral arguments with witness testimony and extensive written briefs and responses.

Quotable: "As the agency prepares for the potential increase in standardized reactor designs and applications for their deployment, it is important to balance efficiency, clarity, and openness in Commission decision-making," NRC chair Christopher T. Hanson wrote in a Feb. 7 memo directing the agency's Office of the General Counsel to develop proposals for future hearings. "Within the guardrails of our current statutory requirements, I believe significant process efficiencies can be gained."

Under consideration: Meanwhile, a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate this past session would allow the NRC to eliminate the requirement of mandatory public hearings on every nuclear reactor application.

The Efficient Nuclear Licensing Hearings Act would remove the NRC's mandatory hearing requirement as outlined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954-and would do so without limiting opportunities for public engagement, supporters say.

Mandatory hearings were put in place to provide an opportunity for the public to petition the NRC to intervene and contest an application. In many instances the applications go uncontested, but the NRC is still required by statute to hold the hearing, devoting thousands of man-hours to provide a public hearing with negligible impact.

In 1957, when the mandatory hearing statute was created, nuclear energy was in a developmental period, as the United States had no commercial nuclear power reactors in operation. Today, however, the U.S. has more than 90 commercial reactors operating in 54 nuclear power plants in 28 different states, which creates a different dynamic, supporters argue.

The Efficient Nuclear Licensing Hearings Act has the support of the American Nuclear Society, Fluor Corporation, the Nuclear Energy Institute, ClearPath Action, the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, the United States Nuclear Industry Council, Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, the Breakthrough Institute, and X-energy.

The bill has failed to advance in Congress thus far but may be considered again in future sessions.