No: 19-038 August 21, 2019

CONTACT: Scott Burnell, 301-415-8200

NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to Hold Hearing, 

Take Limited Appearance Statements on Seabrook License Amendment

An Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hold an evidentiary hearing Sept. 24-27 in 

Newburyport, Mass., to consider a challenge to an amendment to the Seabrook nuclear power 

plant’s operating license, regarding concrete degradation caused by the alkali-silica reaction.

The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m., on Sept. 24 at the Newburyport City Hall 

Auditorium, 60 Pleasant St., in Newburyport. It will continue each day until 5:30 p.m., on Sept. 27, 

unless the board finishes earlier. 

The ASLB is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s independent body charged with 

conducting adjudicatory hearings and deciding legal challenges to the agency’s licensing and 

enforcement actions. NextEra Seabrook operates the single-reactor Seabrook plant, 13 miles south 

of Portsmouth, N.H.

An intervenor, C-10 Research and Education Foundation, filed 10 proposed contentions 

regarding a license amendment NextEra Seabrook requested for analyzing the impact of concrete 

degradation caused by the alkali-silica reaction. The ASLB heard oral arguments in June 2017 on 

the admissibility of the contentions, and on Oct. 6, 2017, granted a hearing on five contentions, 

which were consolidated into one. That contention claims that NextEra’s large-scale concrete 

testing program yielded data that are not representative of the reaction’s progression at Seabrook 

Unit 1, and that the resulting monitoring, acceptance criteria and inspection intervals are inadequate. 

The hearing will focus on the merits of this contention.

The evidentiary hearing is open to the public. The board will only hear testimony and legal 

arguments from witnesses and representatives for C-10, the NRC, and NextEra. No members of the 

public will be heard during this proceeding. Security measures may be employed at the entrance to 

the facility, including searches of hand-carried items such as briefcases or backpacks. No signs, 

banners, posters, or other displays will be permitted at the hearing. In addition, some of the 

evidence submitted in this proceeding is subject to a protective order, and it may therefore be 

necessary for the Board to close the evidentiary hearing to the public when protected information is 

being discussed.

Members of the public may, however, submit oral or written “limited appearance 

statements” regarding the hearing. These statements, which may be considered by the judges, do not 

constitute testimony or evidence. Oral statements may be given on Sept. 23, from 6-8 p.m., at the 
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Newburyport City Hall Auditorium, 60 Pleasant St. in Newburyport. The hearing’s security 

measures and prohibition on public displays also apply to the oral limited appearance session.

If all speakers at the session have made a presentation, the Board reserves the right to 

terminate the session prior to 8 p.m. Each speaker will be allowed five minutes, but that time may 

be further limited depending on the number of requests to make an oral statement. Those who 

provide a written request to make an oral statement will be given priority at the session. Requests to 

make an oral statement should be submitted by 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13, to ASLB law clerk Molly 

Mattison, by regular mail at Mail Stop T3A27, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 

D.C. 20555-0001; by fax at 301-415-5206; or by email at molly.mattison@nrc.gov .

Written limited appearance statements should be submitted to both the NRC Secretary and 

the chairman of the ASLB by mail at Office of the Secretary, Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 and Administrative Judge 

Ronald M. Spritzer, Chairman, c/o Molly Mattison, Mail Stop T3A27, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission Washington, D.C. 20555-0001. They may also be submitted by fax to both 

301-415-1101 and 301-415-5206, or by email to both hearingdocket@nrc.gov and 

molly.mattison@nrc.gov.