U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Washington, D.C. 20555-0001

The Atomic Safety and

Licensing Board Panel
THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD PANEL

hrough the Atomic Energy Act, Congress made it possible for the public to get a full and fair hearing on 

civilian nuclear matters. Individuals who are directly

affected by any licensing action involving a facility producing or

utilizing nuclear materials can participate in a hearing before

independent judges of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board

Panel (ASLBP or Panel).

Hearings often involve difficult, interdisciplinary

questions at the cutting edge of science and technology. In

addition, NRC hearings air local concerns about the consequences of severe accidents and continue the national debate

over the role nuclear power should play in meeting the

nation’s energy needs.

Contested hearings at the NRC are conducted either

by three judges or by a single administrative law judge drawn

from the Panel. The three-judge panels normally consist of one

lawyer judge and two non-lawyer technical judges who possess

expertise in the scientific subject matter at issue in the case.

Hearings before these judges are among the most complex,

lengthy, and controversial administrative proceedings conducted by the Federal government.

The Panel considers issues arising out of the operation

of the nation’s more than 100 nuclear power plants and out of

programs related to approximately 5,000 nuclear materials

licenses. In recent years, hearings have shifted away from the

large nuclear power plant operating licenses and construction

permits and instead focus on license extensions, site decontamination, enforcement actions, reactor and materials license

amendments, and spent fuel storage.

Future proceedings are also likely to involve plant life

extensions, early site permits for locations for future power

reactors, licensing of a high-level radioactive waste repository,

and decommissioning activities. The proceeding to license a

high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, in particular, will involve novel and complex scientific issues.

T
Types of Hearings

The NRC’s regulations provide the opportunity for numerous hearings that include the following types:

COMMISSION-ORDERED PROCEEDINGS. Hearings can be conducted for any nuclear-related matter that the NRC Commission

directs. For example, although hearings are not required for rulemaking, the NRC’s regulations allow for a hearing opportunity to

contest proposed rules that would certify designs for new reactors.

ENFORCEMENT PROCEEDINGS. Hearings are available to individuals, employees, licensees, contractors, subcontractors, and vendors to contest penalties such as monetary fines, facility shutdown

or license revocation for infractions of NRC regulations.

REACTOR LICENSING. The Atomic Energy Act requires that a

hearing be held on every application for a license to build and operate a nuclear facility that produces electric power. The combined

construction permit and operating license hearing provides an opportunity for affected individuals and organizations to raise health, safety, and antitrust issues. Separate hearings can be held on applications

for construction permits or for operating licenses for a nuclear power

plant or related facility if a combined license is not requested.

LICENSE AMENDMENTS. Affected parties can challenge proposed license amendments that seek to change the operating functions or the physical configuration of nuclear reactors. If public

health and safety warrants, hearings will be required before the

license amendment is authorized.

MATERIALS LICENSES. Hearings can be conducted to contest

NRC actions licensing the commercial use of nuclear materials.

These licenses involve manufacturing, treatment, disposal, or storage of radioactive materials and their commercial use in fields such

as nuclear medicine and radiography.

PERSONNEL MATTERS. Hearings are also available for employee grievances or agency personnel actions, differing professional

opinions, and appeals from sanctions for fraudulent claims.

ANTITRUST PROCEEDINGS. The licensing of a nuclear reactor

can be contested on antitrust grounds if its operation is inconsistent with the antitrust laws.
How Does the Public Participate?

The public can participate in NRC hearings by

1 submitting written statements for consideration;

2 making oral presentations at hearings; or

3 becoming intervenors in hearings with full participatory rights 

as parties. 

Parties to NRC hearings can appeal adverse Commission decisions to the Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals and ultimately to the

Supreme Court of the United States.

Formality of Hearings

Hearings can be either formal or informal. The Panel’s formal hearing

procedures are spelled out in the Administrative Procedure Act and

the Commission’s own rules of practice. Formal proceedings employ

the traditional procedures used in non-jury Federal court cases,

including pretrial discovery between the parties and formal trial procedures at the evidentiary hearing. Formal procedures are used in (1)

enforcement proceedings brought by the agency against individuals

and licensees; (2) licensing of uranium enrichment facilities; (3) highlevel waste repository licensing (Yucca Mountain); and (4) nuclear

power reactor licensing where special circumstances are found to exist.

Informal hearing procedures are followed in most other cases.

While the deliberative process for judges remains the same under

either type of hearing, informal hearings grant the parties significantly

fewer procedural rights for developing the record upon which decisions must be based. The informal hearings utilize written submittals

by the parties with a limited opportunity for oral presentations.

High-Level Waste

The Panel is slated to make the initial decision in a formal hearing on

whether the Department of Energy’s (DOE) high-level waste repository

at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, satisfies applicable safety and environmental requirements before granting DOE authority to construct the

facility or operate it. These proceedings, which are expected to take

up to four years to complete, will be conducted primarily in Las Vegas,

Nevada in a special hearing room equipped with advanced technology

and designed and constructed specifically for an electronic hearing.

The Panel is also responsible for developing and operating the

Licensing Support Network (LSN), an Internet-based document

management system that will provide electronic access to millions of

documents relevant to the repository licensing proceeding. Through

the LSN, these documents will be available to the public as well as

the parties to the proceeding.
Other Panel Responsibilities

ADVISORY OPINIONS . The Panel monitors all proposed

rules, final rules, and legislation affecting the NRC’s hearing

process and advises the Commission when potential problems

exist. The Panel may comment on rules and regulations 

proposed by the NRC’s Office of the General Counsel.

E L E C T R O N I C H E A R I N G D O C K E T. The Panel is working with

other NRC offices to consolidate and computerize the NRC’s

adjudicatory dockets and to develop methods of electronic

document filing in administrative hearings.

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION. Panel members are

trained in Alternative Dispute Resolution techniques. This

resource is available to the agency for mediation and facilitation services.

MANAGING COURT REPORTING SERVICES. The Panel manages

NRC court reporting services for itself and the rest of NRC,

covering proceedings, meetings, depositions, public hearings,

oral arguments, and investigative interviews held in the United

States, Canada, and Mexico.

Litigation Technology

TWO WHITE FLINT NORTH HEARING ROOM

The NRC has a hearing room, accommodating 60 people, in its

Two White Flint North Building in Rockville, Maryland. The

well of the court has a circular design to afford all hearing participants an unobstructed view.

INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGIES: THE PAPERLESS COURTROOM

To handle large, complex proceedings efficiently and effectively,

the Panel utilizes audio, video, and computer technology,

including a local area network and a speakerphone system that

permits conference calls between the Panel and parties to the

proceeding at distant locations. Participants can also locate and

view electronic text and images of exhibits and record materials,

and perform legal research searches on the Internet. Video

capabilities include a voice-activated digital video recording system with cameras and monitors and a videoconferencing system

to allow parties and witnesses to participate from multiple

remote locations. A video record is available to the parties via

the Internet immediately after the day’s testimony.
ELECTRONIC FILING

The Panel is testing a system for electronic filing in administrative

proceedings. The system will make it possible for the parties’ computers to send documents to the NRC via the Internet, which will then

make electronic copies available to the parties via an e-mail notice.

This system, which will be employed in the Yucca Mountain licensing

proceeding, should save considerable time and resources for both litigants and the Panel.

Research

Judges can access the full text and images of documents from their

computers while simultaneously conducting legal research through

external systems such as LEXIS and WESTLAW. In addition, the

shared local area network allows members of the Panel to access documents and exchange information with each other.

All significant Panel decisions are published in the NRC Issuances

legal reporter, along with other Commission decisions dating back to

1956, and are available in the NRC’s Public Document Room, at

11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD, 

telephone 800-397-4209, e-mail: pdr@nrc.gov

Recent decisions can be found on NRC’s Agencywide Documents

Access Management System (ADAMS), with access to the public

through the NRC’s Internet web site Public Electronic Reading

Room link at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html

Panel Members

The Panel’s judges include lawyers, physicists, engineers, and 

environmental scientists. They are employees of the NRC whose

decisions are subject to Commission review, but the Administrative

Procedure Act, as well as long-standing agency policy, grants them

independence from the Commission. Thus, the ex parte and separation of function rules dictate that the Panel and its members remain

at arms length to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

For a current list of judges, see the Panel’s home page at

http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/regulatory/adjudicatory/panelmembers.html or call 301-415-7550.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Washington, D.C. 20555-0001

NUREG/BR-0249, Rev. 2

AUGUST 2004