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 

Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov

 

No. 07-070 June 7, 2007

NRC SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON PROPOSED CHANGES TO

NEW REACTOR APPLICATION HEARING POLICY

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission seeks public comment on a proposed policy statement

concerning the conduct of hearings on applications for new reactor licenses and related activities. The

Commission is considering adopting this policy in light of the significant number of applications

expected in the next few years and the agency’s plans to use a “design-centered review approach” to

handle the influx.

“The NRC wants to ensure the public has a fair opportunity to raise concerns with new reactor

applications,” said NRC Chairman Dale Klein. “At the same time, applicants with the same design

should only have to resolve a generic concern once, so we’re suggesting an approach that balances

those competing interests.”

The new applications’ reactor designs are expected to be very standardized, as opposed to the

highly varied set of designs for current reactors. The NRC expects its “design-centered review

approach” to take advantage of these standardized designs and avoid duplicative litigation while

carrying out the agency’s responsibility to protect public health and safety.

The proposed policy builds on current policy, as well as recent changes to NRC regulations

regarding both new reactor licensing and the conduct of hearings, to ensure a disciplined and fair

hearing process. The proposed policy would set out explicit guidance for NRC staff and the Atomic

Safety and Licensing Board on several points, including:

– The staff should issue a Notice of Hearing for a given application only when a complete

application has been accepted, or docketed, with very few exceptions;

– The staff may consider an exemption to normal docketing procedures if an applicant files a

partial application covering only the generic issues of a design referenced in other, complete

applications, and;

– The Board should, whenever appropriate, consolidate into one hearing the generic issues from

several applications referencing a single design.

 The proposed policy statement and associated comments may be viewed and downloaded via

the NRC rulemaking Web site, http://ruleforum.llnl.gov . For more information on the proposed policy

statement, please contact Robert Weisman at 301-415-1696 or via e-mail at rmw@nrc.gov .
The NRC welcomes public comment on the proposed policy for 60 days following its

publication in the Federal Register, expected shortly. Comments can be mailed to Secretary, U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and

Adjudications Staff. Comments can be e-mailed to SECY@nrc.gov . If you fail to receive a reply

e-mail confirming that we have received your comments, please call (301) 415-1966. Comments can

also be submitted online at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov or via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at

http://www.regulations.gov . Comments can be hand-delivered to 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville,

Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. Federal workdays, or faxed to Secretary, U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission at (301) 415-1101. Please include Draft Statement of Policy on

Conduct of New Reactor Licensing Proceedings in the subject line.

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