NRC UPDATES POLICY ON CONDUCTING 

NEW REACTOR LICENSING HEARINGS

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has updated its policy on procedures for hearings 

on new nuclear power plant license applications. 

 The agency expects upcoming applications to use more standardized plant designs, so the 

Commission has looked at how best to handle several hearings on largely identical applications. 

 “While our hearing process handles disputed applications fairly and efficiently, we’re 

always looking for opportunities to improve the process,” said NRC Chairman Dale Klein. 

“We’ve laid out a policy that will go a long way towards avoiding repeated disputes on a settled 

issue.” 

 The Commission’s policy objectives remain unchanged. The Commission aims to 

provide a fair hearing process, avoid unnecessary delays in technical reviews and the hearing 

process, and develop an informed record that supports the agency’s mission of protecting people 

and the environment. 

 The revised policy, which appeared in the Federal Register April 17, builds on work 

produced in 1981 and 1998 and incorporates recent revisions to the agency’s hearing rules. 

Major policy subjects include: 

1) A Notice of Hearing will only be issued when a complete application is accepted for 

review, or “docketed,” with two exceptions; 

2) Combined License (COL) applicants retain the ability to submit information in two 

parts: environmental and safety. By rule, applicants now have up to 18 months 

(previously six months) to submit both parts; 

3) A single hearing can resolve issues common to several COL applications of the same 

design, as long as the applications are filed relatively close together in time. The 

Commission reiterates that the public retains the right to petition to intervene on every 

issue concerning each individual application. 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 

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E-mail: opa@nrc.gov 

Site: http://www.nrc.gov

No. 08-077 April 17, 2008
4) Issues relating to a standard reactor design under certification review should be 

resolved in the certification process, and not in any related COL hearing. If the COL 

application is later revised to treat the reactor as a “custom” design, the normal hearing 

process would resolve any design issues; 

5) If the initial COL for a given standard design resolves a particular issue, subsequent 

applications for that design can adopt the approach, and the NRC staff need only verify 

the applicant has adopted and implemented the approach, and; 

6) The Commission itself will preside over any request for a hearing on a given plant’s 

completion of the inspections, tests, analyses and acceptance criteria needed to show the 

plant will operate safely. 

The Commission will monitor all new reactor licensing proceedings and provide guidance to 

licensing boards and parties in individual cases, as appropriate, and it will decide issues in the 

interest of prompt and effective resolution of matters in a hearing. The policy will be available 

electronically on the NRC’s web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doccollections/commission/policy/ . 

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