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The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB), an independent judicial arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will provide a live video stream of its Sept. 3 initial prehearing conference in Gaffney, S.C., concerning Duke Energy's Combined License application for the Lee site near Gaffney. The live video stream is part of an ASLB pilot program examining how information technology can be used to enhance the public's ability to observe the board's activities. The video stream will be available at this Web site: http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=51006. The video, scheduled to start shortly before 9:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, will be available in Windows Media and QuickTime formats. During the conference, the ASLB will hear arguments regarding the admissibility of contentions submitted by the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League.

An Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, or ASLB, panel accepted one contention for a hearing on Progress Energy's combined construction permit-operating license, or COL, application for a new unit at its Harris plant in North Carolina. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board panel said in an October 30 order that the North Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, or NC WARN, has standing to intervene and accepted a contention the group filed in August. NC WARN contends that the Harris COL application is incomplete because the NRC is still reviewing proposed amendments to its certification of the Westinghouse AP1000 design that Progress Energy plans to use. The ASLB panel said a hearing on the contention will be "held in abeyance" pending further review by the NRC staff and resolution of the issues in the ongoing design certification amendment rulemaking.

"Three Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners have upheld the July 2009 ruling by a panel of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) that is hearing a challenge to two new Progress Energy Florida (PEF) nuclear reactors in Levy County, Florida. Three organizations, the Ecology Party of Florida, Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) and the Green Party of Florida are representing the interests of members living within a 50 mile radius of the proposed new nuclear site, located in the Florida Nature Coast less than 10 miles from the existing PEF Crystal River Nuclear Power Station. The Levy County reactors are projected to cost $17 billion. The landmark ruling, handed down on Thursday, January 7 in response to an appeal by PEF, affirms that the ASLB will hear very broad concerns raised by the Intervening groups, including impacts of a new nuclear plant on ground and surface waters, endangered species, and environmental and safety issues of generating so-called "low-level" radioactive waste that currently has no off-site disposal option. "

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB), an independent judicial arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will provide a live video stream of the first day of its hearing concerning the NRC's Enforcement Order against former Davis-Besse employee David Geisen. The live video stream is part of an ASLB pilot program examining how information technology can enhance the public's ability to observe the Board's activities. The video stream, which will be archived for 90 days, will be available at this Web site: http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=53643. The video, scheduled to start Dec. 8 shortly before 9:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, will be available in Windows Media and QuickTime formats. The hearing will begin Dec. 8 at 9:30 a.m. and could last the entire week; the commencement of the hearing on subsequent days will be determined during the course of the hearing. The public may observe the proceeding in person, except for any closed sessions, in the ALSB Hearing Facility, Room T-3B45 of the agency's Two White Flint North building, at 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB), an independent judicial arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will provide a live video stream of its July 30 initial prehearing conference in Scottsboro, Ala., concerning the Tennessee Valley Authority's Combined License application for the Bellefonte site near Scottsboro. The live video stream is part of an ASLB pilot program examining how information technology can enhance the public's ability to observe the Board's activities. The video stream, which will not be archived, will be available at this Web site: http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=50055. The video, scheduled to start shortly before 9 a.m. Central Daylight Time, will be available in Windows Media and QuickTime formats.

An Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) will hear oral arguments June 9 on two challenges to a license renewal application by Cogema Mining Inc. for the Irigaray and Christensen Ranch in-situ uranium recovery facilities in Wyoming's Powder River Basin. Oral arguments by lawyers for the parties will be heard in the Presentation Hall (Room 136) of the Whitney Building on the campus of Sheridan College in Sheridan, Wyo. The proceedings will continue on June 10 if necessary. Cogema submitted an application for a 10-year renewal of the Irigaray and Christensen Ranch recovery facilities on May 31, 2008. The facilities, which are under a single license, have not been operational since 2002; however, on Sept. 30, 2008, the NRC approved Cogema's request to return the facilities to operational status. The agency received petitions from the Oglala Delegation of the Great Sioux Nation Treaty Council and the Powder River Basin Resource Council, raising various contentions challenging Cogema's application. The oral arguments will discuss the standing of the petitioners and the admissibility of their contentions under NRC regulations. Lawyers from the NRC staff and Cogema will also participate.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards (ASLBs) have granted a hearing on the Yucca Mountain license application, admitting eight petitioners as parties and a total of 299 contentions on safety and environmental issues. In a 153-page order issued today, the ASLBs, designated as "construction authorization boards," granted the petitions to intervene filed by the states of Nevada and California; the Nuclear Energy Institute; Nye County, Nev.; Clark County, Nev., White Pine County, Nev.; Inyo County, Calif.; and a joint petition filed by Churchill, Esmeralda, Lander and Mineral counties, Nev. The Boards ruled that these petitioners demonstrated standing and raised at least one admissible contention regarding the application.

It looks like those who have concerns about the permitting process for the proposed Fermi 3 nuclear power station are facing an uphill battle to have their worries considered by federal regulatory officials. A coalition that includes Monroe County residents and nuclear watchdog groups has put together 15 environmental and safety concerns they'd like to discuss as part of an upcoming Atomic Safety and Licensing Board hearing on the plan to expand DTE Energy's Fermi nuclear complex in Frenchtown Township. But in order for these issues to be raised at the May 5 hearing, they must be approved by the ASLB. And the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and DTE Energy are urging the board to disregard virtually all of the coalition's concerns.

A decision by Nuclear Regulatory Commission staffers to oppose a recent Atomic Safety and Licensing Board decision is nothing more than "a turf war," said Ray Shadis, a board member of the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution. "You have to be completely blind to what they are doing to not be able to see that the NRC is putting turf ahead of public safety," he said. "They want these decisions left with the staff." An ASLB panel that heard testimony in July on the license renewal application for Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon ruled in November that plant engineers needed to do more in-depth analyses of certain reactor components before the NRC authorizes the facility to extend operation to 2032. The judges also ruled that Entergy has to submit an aging management plan related to reactor nozzles prior to issuance of a license renewal, not after.

In a Dec. 2 document filed with the commissioners of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Massachusetts Attorney General has accused the NRC of violating the National Environmental Policy Act because it is trying to exempt the Pilgrim nuclear power station in Plymouth, Mass., from compliance with spent fuel pool requirements that might eventually be mandated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. On Oct. 30, the ASLB issued an initial decision to approve the relicensing application for Pilgrim. On Nov. 24 it also issued a "partial initial decision" approving an application for Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and the Pilgrim Watch citizen's group are both appealing a decision by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) to close relicensing proceedings on the Pilgrim Station nuclear plant. Tuesday morning, Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan provided staff responses to both appeals filed in opposition to the relicensing.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel's Pre-License Application Presiding Officer (PAPO) Board will hold a case management meeting Dec. 2 in Rockville, Md., to discuss how classified information will be protected and handled during adjudicatory hearings on the proposed high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. Representatives from the Department of Energy, the state of Nevada, and the NRC staff will attend the meeting at the ASLB hearing room at NRC headquarters, Two White Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. Other potential parties who have filed a notice of appearance may participate either in person or by video hookup in the NRC's Las Vegas Hearing Facility, Pacific Enterprise Plaza, Building 1, 3250 Pepper Lane, Las Vegas, beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Members of the public are welcome to observe the meeting at either location. The meeting will also be Webcast on the Internet at http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=53642.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) will hear oral arguments Oct. 29 in Hastings, Minn. regarding the application by Nuclear Management Company, LLC to renew its license for an additional 20 years of operation at the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, Units 1 and 2, located near Red Wing, Minn. The Prairie Island Indian Community has petitioned to intervene in the license renewal proceeding. The oral arguments will address the standing of this potential party to intervene and the admissibility of its various environmental and technical contentions. The oral arguments will be held in the Dakota County Judicial Center, Courtroom 2E, 1560 Highway 55 in Hastings. They will begin promptly at 9:00 a.m. Central Time.

NRC's review of Oyster Creek's license renewal request has been extended by an August 21 commission order referring one technical issue back to an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board panel. In its order, the commission directed the panel to resolve "as expeditiously as is practicable" issues related to operator AmerGen's plans to create a 3-D computer model of corrosion in Oyster Creek's steel drywell containment shell. Nuclear Information and Resource Service and five other groups, who contend that the corrosion could jeopardize future safe operation of the plant, appealed those issues to the commission after the ASLB panel rejected their challenges earlier this year.

notice is hereby given that an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (Board) is being established to preside over the following proceeding: Florida Power and Light Company (Turkey Point Nuclear Plant Units 3 and 4)

"The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board handling the Diablo Canyon nuclear reactor license renewal proceeding will hear oral argument May 26 on the request by the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace (SLOMFP) for an evidentiary hearing. The Board is an independent quasi-judicial arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that decides legal challenges to applications and proposed licensing actions by the NRC. The oral argument will be presented by the lawyers representing SLOMFP, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), and NRC staff. The session will begin at 8:30 a.m. PDT and may extend into the evening, if necessary, on Wednesday, May 26, in the San Luis Obispo County Board Chambers of the County Government Center, 1055 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo. Although the oral argument will be limited to the lawyers for the litigants, the session is open to the public for observation. Early arrival is suggested to allow for security screening for all members of the public interested in attending. NRC policy prohibits signs, banners, posters or displays in the hearing room. PG&E submitted a license renewal application on Nov. 24, 2009, seeking a 20-year renewal of the operating licenses for Diablo Canyon Power Plant Units 1 and 2. The units are located approximately 12 miles southwest of San Luis Obispo. The Atomic Safety & Licensing Board is considering whether SLOMFP should be granted intervenor status in the proceeding. SLOMFP has submitted contentions challenging five aspects of PG&E's application, along with a request to waive two NRC regulations so as to allow the admission of two of the contentions. All parties have filed extensive legal briefs on these issues. On May 26th the Board will listen to the lawyers' arguments and ask them questions concerning the proposed contentions and waiver requests. Documents related to the Diablo Canyon license renewal application are available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/diabl

"Judges from the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, the independent trial-level adjudicatory body of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, heard arguments from attorneys of San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace (SLOMFP) and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) regarding the pros and cons of license renewal for Diablo Canyon power plant on May 26. SLOMFP attorney Diane Curran opened the hearing with a summary of the positions of the watchdog group, arguing that recent inspection reports show a pattern of inefficiency related to safe operation and aging of the plant. PG&E argued that many issues raised by Curran weren't relevant to relicensing issues. The current operating licenses for the two reactors at Diablo Canyon are set to expire in 2024 and 2025, respectively. PG&E has applied to continue operating the two reactors through 2045. "It doesn't take 11 years to do a license application," SLO Mothers for Peace spokeswoman Jane Swanson told New Times. "

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staffers are asking that a motion for reconsideration of an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruling be denied. In a document filed Jan. 7, NRC staffers argued that a motion submitted by the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution has not demonstrated compelling circumstances that could not have been anticipated that render invalid (the decision)." Early in 2006, Entergy, which owns and operates Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, filed an application with the NRC to renew the power plant's operating license. The current license expires in 2012. Entergy wants to extend the operating life of the plant for another 20 years.

Entergy Nuclear's hopes for renewing its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant's license for another 20 years were dealt a surprise setback Monday when a federal panel raised concerns about possible metal fatigue problems at the facility. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, a panel that acts as the judicial arm for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said in a 154-page decision that Entergy needs to do more tests now, not later, on metal nozzles used to supply water and maintain the temperature in the reactor core.

Documents pertaining to the proceedings of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP). The following links on this page are to documents in our Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). ADAMS documents are provided in either Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) or Tagged Image File Format (TIFF). To obtain free viewers for displaying these formats, see our Plugins, Viewers, and Other Tools. If you have problems with viewing or printing documents from ADAMS, please contact the Public Document Room staff.