US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 42USC2239]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
          CHAPTER 23--DEVELOPMENT AND CONTROL OF ATOMIC ENERGY
 
                        Division A--Atomic Energy
 
       SUBCHAPTER XV--JUDICIAL REVIEW AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE
 
Sec. 2239. Hearings and judicial review

    (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 sections \1\ 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.
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    \1\ So in original. Probably should be ``section''.
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    (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) of this section.
        (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.

(Aug. 1, 1946, ch. 724, title I, Sec. 189, as added Aug. 30, 1954, ch. 
1073, Sec. 1, 68 Stat. 955; amended Pub. L. 85-256, Sec. 7, Sept. 2, 
1957, 71 Stat. 579; Pub. L. 87-615, Sec. 2, Aug. 29, 1962, 76 Stat. 409; 
Pub. L. 97-415, Sec. 12(a), Jan. 4, 1983, 96 Stat. 2073; renumbered 
title I and amended Pub. L. 102-486, title IX, Sec. 902(a)(8), title 
XXVIII, Secs. 2802, 2804, 2805, Oct. 24, 1992, 106 Stat. 2944, 3120, 
3121; Pub. L. 104-134, title III, Sec. 3116(c), Apr. 26, 1996, 110 Stat. 
1321-349.)

                       References in Text

    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 (Secs. 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 (Sec. 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, Sec. 2802, designated 
existing provisions as subpar. (A) and added subpar. (B).
    Subsec. (a)(2)(A), (C). Pub. L. 102-486, Sec. 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, Sec. 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.


                    Effective Date of 1992 Amendment

    Subsec. (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

    Section 12(b) of Pub. L. 97-415 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.''

                          Transfer of Functions

    Atomic Energy Commission abolished and functions transferred by 
sections 5814 and 5841 of this title. See also Transfer of Functions 
notes set out under those sections.


          Review of Nuclear Proliferation Assessment Statements

    No 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 Act

    Court 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.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 2155a, 2235, 2242, 10154 of 
this title; title 28 section 2342.