Spotlight
NOTICE
Due to the lapse in government funds, the NRC has notified participants in all affected adjudicatory proceedings that those proceedings are suspended until the NRC's funding has been restored. That notice specifies that all existing filing deadlines in those affected proceedings are automatically extended by the number of days the NRC is shut down. (For purposes of calculating the duration of an automatic extension, for each day on which the NRC is shut down for all or any portion of the day (beginning October 1, 2025), one day shall be added to the time for filing or service of a document.) The notice also states that this extension does not apply to any deadlines that passed before the NRC shut down. A copy of that notice is available at NRC Adjudications Suspension Notice and also in ADAMS as accession number ML25274A096.
Likewise, any deadlines applicable to the filing of new intervention petitions, requests for hearing, or other requests for relief are extended by the number of days the NRC is shut down.
This extension does not apply to any petition deadlines that passed before the NRC shut down.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, any person wishing to make a filing should serve the document via the NRC's E-filing system, if practicable. If you are unable to use the E-filing system, or otherwise encounter difficulties with the system during the shutdown, please transmit that filing by e-mail to hearingdocket@nrc.gov.
While adjudicatory activity is suspended, the NRC's Electronic Filing Help Desk will be available to provide help with technical filing issues. The contact number for the Electronic Filing Help Desk is 866-672-7640 or via email to meta_system_help_desk.resource@nrc.gov. Please note that the Electronic Filing Help Desk is not authorized to address questions concerning filing deadlines or adjudication requirements.
Adjudications (Hearings)
Under the Atomic Energy Act, Congress established an adjudicatory process that promotes public involvement in hearings on a variety of civilian nuclear matters. Through this hearing process, independent judges on the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) hear and address concerns of individuals or entities that are directly affected by any licensing or enforcement action involving a facility that produces or uses nuclear materials. Upcoming hearings are listed in our proceedings schedule.
Electronic Hearing Docket
This section provides a link to the official dockets maintained by the Office of the Secretary in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 2. The docket materials are organized in folders by proceeding name and contain all documents that are included in the docket for hearings that may be held by the ASLBP or the Commission.
Additional links on this page provide guidance on the steps necessary for participation in a proceeding before the Commission and an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, or another presiding officer; and reference materials that are important resources for hearing participants.
Beginning on November 3, 2014 the NRC began updating the content of the Electronic Hearing Docket to include both publicly available documents as well as those subject to limited distribution due to protective order. All users will have access to the content of publicly available documents and can view the titles of protective order documents as well. Users who have been granted access to protective order documents will be able to view the content through the Electronic Hearing Docket site.
Users can identify which documents they can access by the icon appearing in front of the document title:
The 'locked' icon 
identifies a protective order document to which the user does not have access.
The "unlocked' icon 
identifies a protective order document which the user can access.
If there is no icon present then the document is available to all users
To enable this functionality we rely on the same digital certificate issued by the NRC when users enroll in the Electronic Information Exchange system. When accessing the Electronic Hearing Docket system users will be asked for their digital certificate. This will serve to identify the user to the system and enable it to configure the user access rights. Users who do not have a digital certificate may still use the system as before and will have access to all publicly available content.
About the Adjudicatory Process
- The Hearing Process
- Types of Hearings
- Public Involvement in Hearings
- About Hearing Decisions
- Hearing Opportunities
ASLBP and Commission Responsibilities
Page Last Reviewed/Updated Wednesday, October 01, 2025
Page Last Reviewed/Updated Wednesday, October 01, 2025