Year
2005
Abstract
A year ago, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission published amendments to Part 2 of Chapter 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, aimed at improving the agency’s adjudicatory process by establishing simplified procedures for most licensing actions. The amendments were also intended to raise the bar for intervention in NRC proceedings, yet ease the hearing preparation and participation burden on those taking part in the proceedings. The amendments left a number of issues undefined, and created ambiguities that need to be resolved through litigation. The case by case examination of the areas left open by the new rules is still ongoing, but there have been a number of decisions that have clarified the reach of the regulations, with good and bad news for those hoping that the nuclear facility development and operation would be made simpler, cheaper, and less uncertain by the new rules. This paper summarizes the framework for the issuance, amendment and transfer of nuclear materials facilities licenses established by the revised Part 2 regulations and describes how this framework has been applied so far in licensing proceedings. The new procedures developed by the NRC for the handling of contested licensing cases may allow applicants, facility owners and operators to obtain the desired licensing actions with greater speed and certainty than under the old rules. However, the procedures are not likely to achieve all the benefits envisioned by the NRC when the rules were instituted, and there are onerous new obligations, particularly in the area of discovery, that must be fulfilled. For those reasons, licensing under the new rules takes significant planning and preparation. The paper suggests actions that license applicants, facility owners and operators can implement to take advantage of the new procedures and protect against their pitfalls.