The Nuclear Regulatory Commission finalized a rule today that aims to significantly speed up contested hearings on reactor and other licensing applications, setting firm schedules to complete most cases in about a year and the simplest in roughly six months—a dramatic reduction from the years these proceedings previously took.
The rule creates three hearing tracks—Standard, Focused, and Expedited—based on application complexity and requires the agency to include a "Standard Hearing Completion Date" in hearing notices. "This rule preserves public participation while making the hearing process more efficient," said NRC Chairman Ho K. Nieh.
The agency changed when hearings begin. Rather than waiting for NRC staff to finish their technical review, hearings will start as soon as practicable once a contested issue is admitted. The shift is designed to shave months off proceedings that previously ran sequentially instead of in parallel.
The rule does not change the standards applicants must meet or the agency's responsibility to independently evaluate safety and security, the NRC said. It carries out direction from Congress in the 2024 ADVANCE Act and Executive Order 14300, both aimed at accelerating advanced nuclear technology deployment. The final rule takes effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, expected next week.