PRE-LICENSING BOARD REJECTS NEVADA’S BID TO STRIKE 

DOE DOCUMENT LIBRARY IN YUCCA MOUNTAIN PROCEEDING 

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Pre-License Application Presiding Officer 

(PAPO) Board today rejected the state of Nevada’s petition to strike the Department of Energy’s 

certification of its document collection on the Licensing Support Network for the Yucca 

Mountain proceeding. 

 The two-page ruling was issued one week after oral arguments were heard in Las Vegas. 

The PAPO board explained that it was issuing its order quickly to give other parties advance 

notice, because NRC regulations require them to certify their own document collections by Jan. 

18. The PAPO Board will issue a full decision on Nevada’s motion at a later date. 

 The Licensing Support Network is an extensive online library of documents relating to 

DOE’s potential license application for a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca 

Mountain, Nev. It is intended to assist potential parties in preparing and arguing contentions 

challenging the application in hearings before the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. 

DOE is expected to submit its application by the end of June 2008. 

 Nevada had argued that DOE’s document collection, which the department certified Oct. 

19, was incomplete because it did not include key documents that are currently in development 

or not yet prepared. 

 NRC “regulations recognize that parties and potential parties, such as DOE, will continue 

to develop, prepare, and finalize additional documentary material, and to supplement their 

document production, after the date of initial certification,” the PAPO Board wrote in its ruling. 

“The regulations do not specify that DOE, or any other potential party, must finalize all 

documentary material before it can certify.” 

 The text of the Board’s ruling, which can be found online on the NRC’s electronic 

hearing docket at: http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/adjudicatory/hlw-hearings.html, is 

appended below: 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 

Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 

E-mail: opa@nrc.gov 

Site: http://www.nrc.gov

No. 07-166 December 12, 2007
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD 

Before Administrative Judges: 

Thomas S. Moore, Chairman 

Alex S. Karlin 

Alan S. Rosenthal 

In the Matter of 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

(High Level Waste Repository: 

Pre-Application Matters) 

 

Docket No. PAPO-00 

ASLBP No. 04-829-01-PAPO 

December 12, 2007 

 

ORDER

(Denying Motion to Strike) 

The motion by the State of Nevada to strike the October 19, 2007 certification by the 

United States Department of Energy (DOE) that DOE has made all of its documentary material 

available on the Licensing Support Network (LSN), and to suspend the obligation of other 

potential parties to make their documentary material available within 90 days thereof, is denied.

1

 

Nevada concedes, for the sake of argument, that DOE has made available all of DOE=s 

documentary material A>in existence as of a reasonable cutoff date= before certification.@

2

 The 

Acrux of Nevada=s complaint,@ however, is that DOE=s document production Ais incomplete 

because [DOE has not provided certain] key documents [that] are in development or not yet 

prepared.@

3

 

 1

 Motion to Strike DOE=s October 19, 2007 LSN Recertification and to Suspend 

Certification Obligations of Others Until DOE Validly Recertifies (October 29, 2007). 

2

 Id. at 18 n.4. 

3

 Id. at 17. 
Nevada=s legal position is incorrect. The regulations recognize that parties and 

potential parties, such as DOE, will continue to develop, prepare, and finalize additional 

documentary material, and to supplement their document production, after the date of 

initial certification. The regulations do not specify that DOE, or any other potential party, 

must finalize all documentary material before it can certify. The duty to produce 

documents applies to documentary material in existence (with a reasonable lag time) on 

the date of certification. Accordingly, Nevada=s motion is denied. 

The Pre-License Application Presiding Officer Board is issuing this order quickly to 

provide maximum advance notice to the State of Nevada, and other potential parties, who 

are obliged to produce their own documentary material, and submit their own 

certifications, on January 17, 2008. See 10 C.F.R. ' 2.1003(a). The Board will issue a 

memorandum and order, more fully articulating its ruling on this matter in due course. 

The time period for filing an appeal to the Commission under 10 C.F.R. ' 2.1015 will not 

start until that memorandum and order is issued. 

It is so ORDERED. 

The Pre-license Application 

 Presiding Officer Board 

/RA/

 

Thomas S. Moore, Chairman 

ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE 

/RA/

 

Alex S. Karlin 

ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE 

/RA/

 

Alan S. Rosenthal 

ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE 

Rockville, Maryland 

December 12, 2007 
### 

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