ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD DENIES CITIZENS OVERSIGHT’S

REQUEST FOR HEARING ON SAN ONOFRE LICENSE AMENDMENT

The NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board today denied Citizens Oversight’s 

request for a hearing to challenge Southern California Edison’s proposal to amend some of 

the “technical specifications” governing the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. The 

Board is a quasi-judicial panel of three judges who are independent of the Commissioners and 

of the NRC staff.

The Board ruled that Citizens Oversight had failed to articulate any challenges or 

“contentions” that meet the NRC’s legal threshold for convening an evidentiary hearing. The 

issue dates back to Aug. 16, 2012, when the NRC issued a notice that Southern California 

Edison had asked to amend San Onofre’s licenses. The notice gave members of the public 60 

days to file a challenge, and Citizens Oversight filed on Oct. 17, 2012, requesting an 

evidentiary hearing. 

Citizens Oversight, the NRC Staff, and Southern California Edison then submitted 

legal briefs. On Dec. 5, 2012, the Board heard oral arguments from these parties on whether 

or not Citizens Oversight’s request for an evidentiary hearing met the NRC legal criteria. The 

webcast of the oral argument will be available through Feb. 5, 2013. Copies of the pleadings 

in this proceeding, as well as the oral argument transcript, are available through the NRC’s 

Electronic Hearing Docket, in the folder entitled “San Onofre 50-361&50-362-LA.” 

The Board’s ruling found that none of Citizens Oversight’s contentions satisfied the 

admissibility criteria of the NRC’s hearing regulations. The Board denied Citizens 

Oversight’s first objection – that the proposed amendments would “relocate” or remove some 

technical specifications from public view and allow Edison to change them without prior 

public or NRC review – because binding precedent issued by NRC Commissioners in 2001 

found that such a relocation was legally proper. The remainder of Citizens Oversight’s 

contentions were denied because they dealt with existing license provisions that were 

unaffected by the proposed license amendments. Citizens Oversight can appeal the Board’s 

decision to the Commissioners.

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

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No. 12-130 December 21, 2012
The Board’s decision today deals solely with Citizens Oversight’s request for hearing. 

A separate Atomic Safety and Licensing Board of three different judges is considering a 

hearing request filed by Friends of the Earth, which argues that the NRC’s Confirmatory 

Action Letter to Southern California Edison should be treated as a license amendment 

entitling FOE to an evidentiary hearing. Briefs are being submitted to that Board in December 

and January and a decision is not expected until after that time. 

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