Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-110
§2239 Hearings and Judicial Review
Title 42 › CHAPTER 23 — DEVELOPMENT AND CONTROL OF ATOMIC ENERGY › SUBCHAPTER XV — JUDICIAL REVIEW AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE › § 2239
Summary
The Commission must allow a hearing for anyone who might be affected by actions about licenses, construction permits, transfers, rule changes for licensees, or certain payments. For construction permit applications it must hold a hearing after 30 days’ notice and one publication in the Federal Register. If a permit was already issued after a hearing, the Commission can issue an operating license or make amendments without a new hearing unless someone asks, but it must publish 30 days’ notice. The Commission can skip that 30-day notice if it finds the change involves no significant safety hazard. At least 180 days before fuel is first loaded at a plant with a combined construction-and-operation license, the Commission must publish a notice of intended operation. Anyone affected has 60 days from that notice to ask for a hearing and must show why license acceptance criteria are not met and explain the safety effects. The Commission must quickly decide to grant or deny the request, and if it grants one it will decide whether interim operation still reasonably protects public health and safety. The Commission will set hearing rules and, to the maximum extent possible, decide issues raised within 180 days of the notice or the planned fuel-loading date, whichever is later. The Commission may make immediate amendments that it finds involve no significant hazards, must publish all such amendments at least every 30 days, and must issue rules within 90 days setting standards and procedures for these decisions and for consulting the State. Certain final Commission actions may be reviewed by a court under chapter 158 of title 28 and chapter 7 of title 5. These include final orders from the kinds of proceedings above; final orders allowing or stopping a facility from beginning operation under a combined license; final rules setting standards for the Department of Energy’s gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment plants (including facilities leased under the USEC Privatization Act); and final determinations under section 2297f(c) about those plants’ compliance.
Full Legal Text
Title 42, §2239
The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)(1)(A)In any proceeding under this chapter, for the granting, suspending, revoking, or amending of any license or construction permit, or application to transfer control, and in any proceeding for the issuance or modification of rules and regulations dealing with the activities of licensees, and in any proceeding for the payment of compensation, an award or royalties under section 2183, 2187, 2236(c) or 2238 of this title, the Commission shall grant a hearing upon the request of any person whose interest may be affected by the proceeding, and shall admit any such person as a party to such proceeding. The Commission shall hold a hearing after thirty days’ notice and publication once in the Federal Register, on each application under section 2133 or 2134(b) of this title for a construction permit for a facility, and on any application under section 2134(c) of this title for a construction permit for a testing facility. In cases where such a construction permit has been issued following the holding of such a hearing, the Commission may, in the absence of a request therefor by any person whose interest may be affected, issue an operating license or an amendment to a construction permit or an amendment to an operating license without a hearing, but upon thirty days’ notice and publication once in the Federal Register of its intent to do so. The Commission may dispense with such thirty days’ notice and publication with respect to any application for an amendment to a construction permit or an amendment to an operating license upon a determination by the Commission that the amendment involves no significant hazards consideration.
(B)(i)Not less than 180 days before the date scheduled for initial loading of fuel into a plant by a licensee that has been issued a combined construction permit and operating license under section 2235(b) of this title, the Commission shall publish in the Federal Register notice of intended operation. That notice shall provide that any person whose interest may be affected by operation of the plant, may within 60 days request the Commission to hold a hearing on whether the facility as constructed complies, or on completion will comply, with the acceptance criteria of the license.
(ii)A request for hearing under clause (i) shall show, prima facie, that one or more of the acceptance criteria in the combined license have not been, or will not be met, and the specific operational consequences of nonconformance that would be contrary to providing reasonable assurance of adequate protection of the public health and safety.
(iii)After receiving a request for a hearing under clause (i), the Commission expeditiously shall either deny or grant the request. If the request is granted, the Commission shall determine, after considering petitioners’ prima facie showing and any answers thereto, whether during a period of interim operation, there will be reasonable assurance of adequate protection of the public health and safety. If the Commission determines that there is such reasonable assurance, it shall allow operation during an interim period under the combined license.
(iv)The Commission, in its discretion, shall determine appropriate hearing procedures, whether informal or formal adjudicatory, for any hearing under clause (i), and shall state its reasons therefor.
(v)The Commission shall, to the maximum possible extent, render a decision on issues raised by the hearing request within 180 days of the publication of the notice provided by clause (i) or the anticipated date for initial loading of fuel into the reactor, whichever is later. Commencement of operation under a combined license is not subject to subparagraph (A).
(2)(A)The Commission may issue and make immediately effective any amendment to an operating license or any amendment to a combined construction and operating license, upon a determination by the Commission that such amendment involves no significant hazards consideration, notwithstanding the pendency before the Commission of a request for a hearing from any person. Such amendment may be issued and made immediately effective in advance of the holding and completion of any required hearing. In determining under this section whether such amendment involves no significant hazards consideration, the Commission shall consult with the State in which the facility involved is located. In all other respects such amendment shall meet the requirements of this chapter.
(B)The Commission shall periodically (but not less frequently than once every thirty days) publish notice of any amendments issued, or proposed to be issued, as provided in subparagraph (A). Each such notice shall include all amendments issued, or proposed to be issued, since the date of publication of the last such periodic notice. Such notice shall, with respect to each amendment or proposed amendment (i) identify the facility involved; and (ii) provide a brief description of such amendment. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to delay the effective date of any amendment.
(C)The Commission shall, during the ninety-day period following the effective date of this paragraph, promulgate regulations establishing (i) standards for determining whether any amendment to an operating license or any amendment to a combined construction and operating license involves no significant hazards consideration; (ii) criteria for providing or, in emergency situations, dispensing with prior notice and reasonable opportunity for public comment on any such determination, which criteria shall take into account the exigency of the need for the amendment involved; and (iii) procedures for consultation on any such determination with the State in which the facility involved is located.
(b)The following Commission actions shall be subject to judicial review in the manner prescribed in chapter 158 of title 28 and chapter 7 of title 5:
(1)Any final order entered in any proceeding of the kind specified in subsection (a).
(2)Any final order allowing or prohibiting a facility to begin operating under a combined construction and operating license.
(3)Any final order establishing by regulation standards to govern the Department of Energy’s gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment plants, including any such facilities leased to a corporation established under the USEC Privatization Act [42 U.S.C. 2297h et seq.].
(4)Any final determination under section 2297f(c) of this title relating to whether the gaseous diffusion plants, including any such facilities leased to a corporation established under the USEC Privatization Act [42 U.S.C. 2297h et seq.], are in compliance with the Commission’s standards governing the gaseous diffusion plants and all applicable laws.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
This chapter, referred to in subsec. (a)(1)(A), (2)(A), was in the original “this Act”, meaning act Aug. 1, 1946, ch. 724, as added by act Aug. 30, 1954, ch. 1073, § 1, 68 Stat. 919, known as the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
note set out under section 2011 of this title and Tables. The
Effective Date
of this paragraph, referred to in subsec. (a)(2)(C), probably means the date of enactment of Pub. L. 97–415, which was approved Jan. 4, 1983. The USEC Privatization Act, referred to in subsec. (b)(3), (4), is subchapter A (§§ 3101–3117) of chapter 1 of title III of Pub. L. 104–134, Apr. 26, 1996, 110 Stat. 1321–335, which is classified principally to subchapter VIII (§ 2297h et seq.) of this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
of 1996 Amendment note set out under section 2011 of this title and Tables.
Amendments
1996—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 104–134 amended subsec. (b) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (b) read as follows: “Any final order entered in any proceeding of the kind specified in subsection (a) of this section or any final order allowing or prohibiting a facility to begin operating under a combined
Construction
and operating license shall be subject to judicial review in the manner prescribed in the Act of December 29, 1950, as amended (ch. 1189, 64 Stat. 1129), and to the provisions of section 10 of the Administrative Procedure Act, as amended.” 1992—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 102–486, § 2802, designated existing provisions as subpar. (A) and added subpar. (B). Subsec. (a)(2)(A), (C). Pub. L. 102–486, § 2804, inserted “or any amendment to a combined
Construction
and operating license” after “any amendment to an operating license”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 102–486, § 2805, inserted “or any final order allowing or prohibiting a facility to begin operating under a combined
Construction
and operating license” before “shall be subject to judicial review”. 1983—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 97–415 designated existing provisions as par. (1) and added par. (2). 1962—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 87–615 substituted “
Construction
permit for a facility” and “
Construction
permit for a testing facility” for “license for a facility” and “license for a testing facility” respectively, and authorized the commission in cases where a permit has been issued following a hearing, and in the absence of a request therefor by anyone whose interest may be affected, to issue an operating license or an amendment to a
Construction
permit or an operating license without a hearing upon thirty days’ notice and publication once in the Federal Register of its intent to do so, and to dispense with such notice and publication with respect to any application for an amendment to a
Construction
permit or to an operating license upon its determination that the amendment involves no significant hazards consideration. 1957—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 85–256 required the Commission to hold a hearing after 30 days notice and publication once in the Federal Register on an application for a license for a facility or a testing facility.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1992
Amendments
ubsec. (a)(1)(B) of this section, as added by section 2802 of Pub. L. 102–486, applicable to all proceedings involving combined license for which application was filed after May 8, 1991, see section 2806 of Pub. L. 102–486, set out as a note under section 2235 of this title. Authority To Effectuate
Amendments
to Operating Licenses Pub. L. 97–415, § 12(b), Jan. 4, 1983, 96 Stat. 2073, provided that: “The authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, under the provisions of the amendment made by subsection (a) [amending this section], to issue and to make immediately effective any amendment to an operating license shall take effect upon the promulgation by the Commission of the
Regulations
required in such provisions.” Review of Nuclear Proliferation Assessment StatementsNo court or regulatory body to have jurisdiction to compel performance of or to review adequacy of performance of any Nuclear Proliferation Assessment Statement called for by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 [this chapter] or by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978, Pub. L. 95–242, Mar. 10, 1978, 92 Stat. 120, see section 2160a of this title. Administrative Orders Review ActCourt of appeals exclusive jurisdiction respecting final orders of Atomic Energy Commission, now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Secretary of Energy, made reviewable by this section, see section 2342 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
42 U.S.C. § 2239
Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare
Last Updated
Sep 23, 2026
Release point: 119-110