§2239 Hearings and judicial review

Summary

Require hearings and let affected people join when the Commission decides to grant, change, suspend, revoke, or transfer licenses or construction permits, changes rules for licensees, or decides payments, awards, or royalties under sections 2183, 2187, 2236(c), or 2238. Anyone who may be affected can ask for a hearing and be made a party. For construction permit applications under section 2133 or 2134(b), and for testing facility permits under section 2134(c), the Commission must give 30 days’ notice and publish once in the Federal Register before holding a hearing. For a combined construction and operating license under section 2235(b), the Commission must publish notice of intended operation at least 180 days before the planned first fuel loading. People then have 60 days to ask for a hearing on whether the plant, as built or when finished, meets the license’s acceptance criteria. A hearing request must show, at first glance, that one or more acceptance criteria are or will not be met and explain the safety consequences. The Commission must quickly grant or deny the request, decide whether interim operation still provides reasonable assurance of adequate protection if a hearing is granted, and may allow interim operation if it finds reasonable assurance. The Commission chooses the hearing format and should try to decide issues within 180 days after the notice or the planned fuel loading date, whichever is later. The Commission may immediately issue amendments to operating or combined licenses if it finds no significant hazards consideration, after consulting the State. It must publish notices of issued or proposed amendments at least every 30 days and must, within 90 days, make rules that set the standards and procedures for deciding what counts as no significant hazards consideration, when notice or public comment can be skipped (including emergencies), and how to consult the State. Certain final Commission actions can be reviewed in court under chapter 158 of title 28 and chapter 7 of title 5. Those include final orders in the kinds of proceedings above; final orders allowing or stopping a facility from starting under a combined license; final rules governing the Department of Energy’s gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment plants (including facilities leased under the USEC Privatization Act, 42 U.S.C. 2297h et seq.); and final determinations under section 2297f(c) about whether those gaseous diffusion plants meet the Commission’s standards and the law.