TH22 Legal Impacts of the ADVANCE Act and Recent Supreme Court Administrative Law Decisions on the NRC’s Regulatory and Adjudicatory Processes

A panel of legal experts will discuss the possible impacts of the newly adopted ADVANCE Act and recent Supreme Court administrative law decisions on various aspects of NRC’s regulatory and adjudicatory processes. Even before Chevron, courts afforded judicial deference to NRC’s recognized scientific and technical expertise in implementing the Atomic Energy Act’s unique regulatory scheme. What implications does the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Loper Bright v. Raimondo ending Chevron deference afforded to an agency’s interpretation of its statutory authority have for promulgating or challenging NRC rules implementing ADVANCE Act‑related regulatory and adjudicatory process changes? Will the “major questions” doctrine articulated by the Supreme Court in 2022 in West Virginia v. EPA come into play relative to any challenges to ADVANCE Act-based regulatory changes? What does the Supreme Court’s 2024 determination in Jarkesy v. SEC that a challenge to an agency civil penalty proceeding must be litigated before a federal district court jury portend for NRC’s enforcement program and processes?  And how do the Nuclear Energy Institute’s ADVANCE Act-associated proposed changes to the NRC’s hearing process measure up in light of existing agency practice, the Administrative Procedure Act’s strictures, and constitutional due process concerns?

• William Froehlich, Administrative Judge, ASLBP/NRC
• Paul Bollwerk, III, Administrative Judge, ASLBP/NRC

   

• Opening Remarks and Combined Presenter Slides
  William Froehlich, Administrative Judge, ASLBP/NRC and Paul Bollwerk, III, Administrative Judge, ASLBP/NRC
• Paul Bollwerk, III, Administrative Judge, ASLBP/NRC
• Elina Teplinsky, Partner, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP
• Victor Gilinsky, Physicist and former NRC Commissioner
• Robert Haemer, Professorial Lecturer in Law, George Washington University Law School
• Emily Hammond, Associate Dean for Public Engagement and Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School
• Jeremy Mecer, Administrative Judge, ASLBP

• Twana Ellis, Program Analyst, Adjudicatory Support and Technical Staff, ASLBP/NRC e-mail: Twana.Ellis@nrc.gov