The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (NUREG/BR-0249, Revision 3)
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Publication Information
Date Published: March 2009
Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001
Introduction
Through 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 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP or the 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.
A group of three judges or a single administrative law judge drawn from the Panel conduct contested hearings at the NRC. The three-judge Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards normally consist of one lawyer judge and two nonlawyer technical judges with 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 that arise from the operation of over 100 U.S. commercial nuclear power plants, dozens of research and test operation reactors, and programs related to several thousand nuclear materials licensees. In recent years, hearings have addressed reactor life extensions, decommissioning, enforcement actions, reactor and materials license amendments, and spent fuel storage.
Increasingly, however, the hearings have focused on early site permits and combined operating licenses for proposed nuclear reactors, and the licensing of a high-level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The latter proceeding will involve novel and complex scientific issues.
