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# Adjudications (Hearings)

Under the Atomic Energy Act, Congress established an adjudicatory process that promotes public involvement in hearings on a variety of civilian nuclear matters. Through this hearing process, independent judges on the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) hear and address concerns of individuals or entities that are directly affected by any licensing or enforcement action involving a facility that produces or uses nuclear materials. Upcoming hearings are listed in our proceedings schedule.

## Electronic Hearing Docket

This section provides a link to the official dockets maintained by the Office of the Secretary in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 2. The docket materials are organized in folders by proceeding name and contain all documents that are included in the docket for hearings that may be held by the ASLBP or the Commission.

Additional links on this page provide guidance on the steps necessary for participation in a proceeding before the Commission and an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, or another presiding officer; and reference materials that are important resources for hearing participants.

Beginning on November 3, 2014 the NRC began updating the content of the Electronic Hearing Docket to include both publicly available documents as well as those subject to limited distribution due to protective order. All users will have access to the content of  publicly available documents and can view the titles of protective order documents as well. Users who have been granted access to protective order documents will be able to view the content through the Electronic Hearing Docket site.

Users can identify which documents they can access by the icon appearing in front of the document title:

The 'locked' icon identifies a protective order document to which the user does not have access.

The "unlocked' icon   identifies a protective order document which the user can access.

If there is no icon present then the document is available to all users

To enable this functionality we rely on the same digital certificate issued by the NRC when users enroll in the Electronic Information Exchange system. When accessing the Electronic Hearing Docket system users will be asked for their digital certificate. This will serve to identify the user to the system and enable it to configure the user access rights. Users who do not have a digital certificate may still use the system as before and will have access to all publicly available content.
            - Access the Electronic Hearing Docket

## About the Adjudicatory Process

            - The Hearing Process
            - Types of Hearings
            - Public Involvement in Hearings
            - About Hearing Decisions
            - Hearing Opportunities

## ASLBP and Commission Responsibilities

            - ASLBP Responsibilities
            - Commission Adjudicatory Responsibilities

Page Last Reviewed/Updated Tuesday, July 14, 2020

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#### Key Topics

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#### Related Information

            - Understanding 10 CFR Part 2: Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing Proceedings and Issuance of Orders
            - NRC Staff Practice and Procedure Digest (For Adjudicatory Decisions)

Page Last Reviewed/Updated Tuesday, July 14, 2020