ML19309H037

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Notice of Citizens Advisiory Board of Omaha,NE-Council Bluffs,Ia Metropolitan Area Planning Agency Petition for Rulemaking
ML19309H037
Person / Time
Issue date: 04/11/1980
From: Chilk S
NRC OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY (SECY)
To:
Shared Package
ML19309H034 List:
References
RULE-PRM-2-10 NUDOCS 8005080213
Download: ML19309H037 (6)


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759g_g, 80050BP 1 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[ Docket No. PRM-2-10]

Citizens Advisory Board of the Matropolitan Area

, Planning Agency Filing of Petition for Rulemaking AGENCY:

U.S. Nt clear Regulatory Commission ACTION:

Publication of Petition for Rulemaking from the Citizens Advisory Board of the Omaha, Nebraska - Council Bluffs, Iowa Metropolitan Area Planning Agency

SUMMARY

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is publishing for public comment a petition for rulemaking filed before the Commission on March 13, 1980, by Alan H. Kirshen, Esquire, on behalf of the Citizens Advisory Board of the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency, an official advisory board in the Omaha, Nebraska-Council Bluffs, Iowa area.

This petition, which has been assigned Docket No. PRM-2-10,' requests that the Commission amend 10 CFR Part 2,

" Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing Proceedings," to require an informal public hearing in every instance of issuance, amendment, modification, sus-pension or revocation of a facility operating license. The petition also requests specific amendments to Part 2 designed, in petitioner's view, to pennit interested persons to request a fonnal hearing without being required to intervene, to participate in a lir.;ited manner in all aspects of such proceedings, and to observe all aspects of a proceeding by scheduling the l

proceeding at a place reasonably proximate to the facility in question. The l

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759c-01

' petitioner proposes significant amendments to 10 CFR 2.105, 2.714, 2.715,and 2.751, and conforming changes to 10 CFR 2.750 and 2.757.

DATE:

Comment period expires June 16,1980.

ADDRESSES: A copy of the petition for rulemaking is available for public inspection in the Commis$'on's Public Document Room,1717 H Streek, N.W.,

Washington, D.C.

A copy of the petition may be obtained by writing

+.0 the Division of Rules and Records,0ffice of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regula-tory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555.

All persons who desire to submit written comments or suggestions concerning the petition for rulemaking should send their comments to the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555, Attention:

Docketing and Service Branch.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joseph M. Felton, Director, Division of Rules and Records, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commis-sion, Washington, D.C. 20555. Telephene: 301-492-7211.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I.

Under existing Commission regulations, specified proposed licensing actions must be pre-noticed by publication in the Federal Register i

7590-01 before a license can issue.

10 CFR 2.105, " Notice of Proposed Action,"

lists the types of actions requiring pre-notice. It permits the license applicants to request a hearing and any person whose interest may be affected by the proceeding to file a petition for leave to intervene.

If a timely hearing request or petition for leave to intervene is not filed, the Director of Nuclear Reactor Regulation or Director of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, as appropriate, will issue the license.

The petitioner requests the Commission to amend 10 CFR 2.105 to require proposed licensing actions to be pre-noticed if a hearing is requested by five or more persons.

In addition, the petitioner requests that 5 2.105 be amended to permit any five persons whose interest may be affected by the proceeding to file a "-Request for a Formal Hearing."

If a timely request for a fonnal hearing is not filed, the petitioner requests that the Director of Nuclear Reactor Regulation or the Director of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, as appropriate, be required to publish a " Notice of Informal Public Hearing" in one e. more new's-papers of general circulation reasonably proximate to the site which describes the proposed action and specifies the time, date and place of the infomal hearing. The amendment requested by the petitioner would also specify how the informal public hearing should be conducted and reported. Confonning changes of a technical nature to 10 CFR 2.750,

" Official reporter; transcript" and 2.757, " Authority of presiding of ficer to regulate procedure in a hearing" are also proposed.

7590-01

. II. The petitioner also proposes to permit interested persons to request a formal hearing without being required to intervene as a party (which they now must do under the Commission's existing regulations) by amend-ing 10 CFR 2.714, " Intervention." The principal changes which the petitioner proposes to make are. as follows:

(a) Add the following sentence to 2.714(a)(2):

A request for formal hearing shall set forth generally the inter-est of the requestor in a fomal hsaring, the reasons why an infomal hearing is insufficient in the premises; the spec?fic aspect or aspects of the subject matter of the proceedings as to which a fomal hearing is sought;. and, if no petition for leave to intervene has been filed, the reasons why a formal hearing should be held in the absence of any petition for leave to intervene.

(b) Add the following item (4) to 2.714(e):

(4) Avoiding evidence and argument not related to the specific aspect or aspects of the subject matter of the proceeding for which a formal hearing has been sought or as to which a petition for leave to intervene has been directed.

In the absence of any intervenors, a fomal hearing should proceed in accordance with Section 2.715, of this Title.

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7590- I III. The petitioner urges the Commission to amend 10 CFR 2.715, "Partici-pation by a person not a party" in a manner which in its view would pemit all interested persons to participate in a limited manner in all aspects of a proceeding.

In general, amended 2.715 would:

(a) permit persons making limited appearance statements to "otherwise participate in the proceedings within such limits and on such conditions as may be fixed by the presiding officer;" (b) require the Secretary to provide-notice of all hearings, pretrial conferences, special pretrial confer-ences, oral arguments and any infomal proceedings to persons requesting such notice; (c) include memoranda of forthcoming meetings between the Commission staff and representatives of the licensee, and the minutes of such meetings, in the record of the proceeding; and (d) require the Secretary or other NRC personnel to furnish copies of all pleadings and papers of record to any person requesting such documents.

IV.

Finally, petitioner proposes that 10 CFR 2.751 " Hearings to be Public" be amended.

Section 2.751 now reads as follows:

Except as may be requested pursuant to Section 181 of the Act, all hearings will be public unless otherwise ordered by the Commission.

The petitioner requests that this section be revised to read as follows:

Except as may be required by the Act, all informal hearings, for-mal hearings, pretrial conferences, special pretrial conferences, P

1590-01 oral arguments, and all infomal proceedings, including meetings between Commission staff and representatives of the licensee and/or representatives of consultants and/or vendors for the licensee shall be public. All hearings shall be held at a site and time reasonably calculated to make same reasonably accessible to the majority of persons potentially affected by the action pro-posed, which should nomally be proximate to the facility con-cerned.

All pretrial conferences, special pretrial conferences, and informal proceedings shall, upon the request of any interested party, similarly be held at a site and time reasonably calculated to make some [ sic] reasonably accessible to the majority of per-sons potentially affected by the action proposed. Notice of such proceedings shall be disseminated sufficiently in advance of same as to allow time for such a request to be made, and such proceed-ings rescheduled if required.

The petitioner states that this revised provision is intended to permit interested persons to be fully informed of and have access to all aspects of licensing proceedings.

Dated at Washington, D.C., this lith day of April

, 1980.

For the Nucl Regulatory Commission.

L Samuel J. C ilk Secretary f the Commiss n

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