§2.201 Notice of violation. (a) Prior to the institution of any proceeding for the suspension or revocation of a license or construction permit for alleged violation of any provision of the act, regulations, or conditions of the license or permit, the licensee or permit holder shall be served with a written notice calling the facts to his attention and requesting a written explanation or statement in reply. Within 15 days of the receipt of such notice, or such other reasonable period as may be specified in the notice, the licensee or permit holder shall send his reply to the AEC office designated in the notice. If the notice relates to conditions of conduct which may be susceptible of correction or of being brought into full compliance by action of the licensee or permit holder, he shall state in his reply the corrective steps taken or to be instituted in achieving correction and preventing further violations, and the date when such correction and full compliance will be achieved.

(b) Where in the opinion of AEC the public health, interest, or safety requires, or the failure to be in compliance is wilful, the notice provided for in this section may be omitted."

§ 2.202 Orders to show cause; conditioned orders. (a) (1) In any case described in § 2.200, and after notice if any as required by §2.201, AEC may issue to the licensee or permit holder an order directing him to show cause why the proposed action should not be taken. There will be included a notice of formal hearing. The time for hearing specified shall not be less than 20 days after issuance of the order except that, where the public interest or safety requires, AEC may provide in the order for a shorter period.

(2) Where in the opinion of AEC the public health, interest and safety requires, the proposed action may be made temporarily effective prior to the time for hearing.

(b) In cases initiated by AEC to impose requirements by order upon a licensee or holder of a construction permit, the AEC may (in lieu of following the procedures provided in paragraph (a) of this section) issue such order to be effective at a time specified therein. The order will designate also a period of time, not less than 15 days from the date of issuance of the order, within which the licensee or permit holder may file a written request for formal hearing. The timely filing of a request for formal hearing with respect to any order, or any part of an order, issued pursuant to this paragraph shall stay the order, or such part of the order, pending determination of the issues by the Commission.

$2.203 Recapture of material or entry in emergency revocation cases. In cases found by the Commission to be of extreme importance to the common defense and security or to the health and safety of the public, the Commission may without prior notice or hearing recapture any special nuclear material held by the licensee or enter upon and operate the licensed facility, provided that as promptly as possible and not later than 10 days from the recapture or entry, AEC will serve upon the licensee or permit holder an appropriate order to show cause why the license or construction permit should not be revoked and notice of formal hearing, or will initiate steps to restore the material or facility of which the licensee or permit holder has been deprived.

SUBPART C-PROCEDURES ON DECLARING PATENTS AFFECTED WITH THE PUBLIC INTEREST AND LICENSING OF PATENTS

SUBPARTS D-F-[RESERVED]

SUBPART G-RULES OF GENERAL APPLICABILITY

COMMON PROVISIONS

$2.700 Filing of papers; when complete. Unless otherwise specified, papers required to be filed with AEC shall be filed with the Atomic Energy Commission, Washington 25, D.C.

§2.705 Intervention. (a) Any person whose interests may be affected by a proceeding may file a petition to intervene, describing his interest, how it may be affected by AEC action, and the position he is taking in the matter.

§2.708 Hearings, formal and informal. Hearings will be either formal or informal. Formal hearings will be held in cases of adjudication, as that term is used in the Administrative Procedure Act, unless the parties otherwise agree, and in such other cases as may specifically be directed. Informal hearings will normally be held for the purposes of obtaining necessary or useful information, and affording participation by interested persons, in the formulation, amendment, or recission of rules and regulations.

INFORMAL HEARINGS

$2.720 Informal hearing procedure. The procedure to be followed in informal hearings shall be such as will best serve the purpose of the hearing. For example, an informal hearing may consist of the submission of written data, views, or arguments with or without oral argument, or may partake of the nature of a conference, or may assume some of the aspects of a formal hearing in which the subpena of witnesses and the production of evidence may be permitted or directed. §2.730 Parties. The parties to a formal hearing shall be AEC, the licensee or applicant as the case may be, and any person permitted to intervene pursuant to § 2.705.

§2.731 Limited appearances by persons not parties. With the consent of the presiding officer, limited appearances may be entered without request for or grant of permission to intervene by persons who are not parties to a hearing. With the consent of the presiding officer, and on due notice to the parties, such persons may make oral or written statements of their position on the issues involved in the proceeding, but may not otherwise participate in the hearing.

$2.732 Designation of presiding officer, disqualification, unavailability. (a) There will be designated to preside at hearings one or more members of the Commission, or an officer or board to whom has been delegated final authority in the matter with which the hearing is concerned, or a hearing examiner appointed pursuant to section 11 of the Administrative Procedure Act. To the extent practicable, the name of the presiding officer designated will be included in the notice of hearing or, if omitted from the notice, made known to the parties or

public as soon as is possible thereafter, prior to the holding of the hearing.

$2.733 Powers of presiding officers. From the date of his designation in a case until transfer of the case to the Commission, or expiration of the time for filing exceptions to his intermediate decision, a presiding officer shall have authority in the case to:

(a) Administer oaths and affirmations;

(b) Examine witnesses;

(c) Rule upon officers of proof and receive evidence; (d) Issue subpenas authorized by law;

(e) Take or cause depositions to be taken;

(f) Regulate the course of hearings;

(g) Hold appropriate conferences before or during the hearing; (h) Dispose of procedural requests or similar matters;

(i) Within his discretion or upon direction of the Commission, certify questions to the Commission for its consideration and disposition;

(j) Make the intermediate decision in conformity with § 2.751;

(k) Take any other action consistent with the rules of the Commission, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.

$2.734 Separation of functions. (a) Hearing examiners appointed pursuant to section 11 of the Administrative Procedure Act shall perform no duties inconsistent with their duties and responsibilities as presiding officers, and shall not be responsible to or subject to the supervision or direction of any officer or employee engaged in the performance of investigative or prosecuting functions for AEC.

(b) In any case of adjudication other than initial licensing.

(1) The presiding officer, unless he is a member of the Commission or officer having final authority in the case, may not consult any person or party on any fact in issue except upon notice and opportunity for all parties to participate, save to the extent required for the disposition of ex parte matters as authorized by law;

(2) No officer or employee of AEC, other than a member of the Commission or officer having final authority in the case, who has engaged in the performance of any investigative or prosecuting function in the case or a factually related case may participate or advise in the intermediate or final decision, except as witness or counsel in the formal hearing.

$2.735 Notice of hearing. (a) Whenever a hearing is granted, AEC will give timely notice of the hearing to all parties and to other persons, if any, entitled to notice. Such notice will state the time, place, and nature of the hearing; the legal authority and jurisdiction under which the hearing is to be held; the matters of fact and law asserted or to be considered, which will be identified as the "Specification of Issues"; and a request for an answer. The time and place for hearing will be fixed with due regard for the convenience and necessity of the parties or their representatives.

(b) The notice of hearing may be a separate notice or when appropriate may be embodied in an order to show cause or other order.

(c) The procedure for issuance of the notice of hearing and specifying of the issues by AEC shall not affect the burden of proof.

$2.740 Prehearing conferences. (a) In order to provide opportunity for the settlement of a proceeding or any of the issues therein, or for agreement upon procedural and other matters, there may be held at any time prior to or during a hearing, upon due notice of the time and place given to all parties, such conferences of the parties as, in the discretion of the presiding officer, time, the nature of the proceeding, and the public interest may permit.

(b) Action taken at a prehearing conference may be recorded for appropriate use at the hearing in the form of a written stipulation among the parties reciting the matters upon which there has been agreement. The stipulation shall be binding upon the parties thereto. $2.741 Amendments. At any time prior to the time fixed for hearing but not later than five days prior, the party responsible for the specification of issues, answer, or reply, respectively, may amend the same by filing an amendment and serving it upon the parties. At any time thereafter, amendments may be permitted in the discretion of the presiding officer upon such terms as he shall prescribe.

§2.742 Hearings public. Except as may be required pursuant to section 181 of the act, hearings shall be public.

§2.743 Official reporter, transcript. Hearings shall be reported under the supervision of the presiding officer, stenographically or by other means, by an official reporter, who may be designated from time to time by AEC or may be a regular employee of AEC. The transcript of the report shall be a part of the record and the sole official transcript of the proceeding. Except as limited pursuant to section 181 of the act or order of the Commission, the transcript will be open for inspection at AEC offices and copies may be obtained from the official reporter upon payment of the charges fixed therefor. Errors in the transcript may be corrected by order of the presiding officer following a notice of motion to correct filed and served on the affected parties within 10 days after notice that the completed transcript has been received by AEC, or as otherwise agreed upon by the parties and approved by the presiding officer.

§2.746 Order of procedure. The presiding officer or the Commission, as the case may be, will designate the order of procedure at hearings including the order in which interveners will be heard. Normally, at hearings for the grant, amendment or transfer of a license or construction permit or the renewal of a license, the applicant will open and close; and at hearings for the revocation, suspension, or AEC initiated modification of a license or construction permit, AEC will open and close.

$2.747 Evidence. (a) Every party to the hearing shall have the right to present such oral or documentary evidence and rebuttal evidence and conduct such cross-examination as may be required for a full and true disclosure of the facts. The parties shall be encouraged to present evidence in written form.

(b) The presiding officer shall exclude all irrelevant, immaterial, or unduly repetitious evidence.

(c) Objections to the admission or exclusion of evidence shall state the grounds of objections. The transcript shall include the objections, the grounds, and the rulings, but not the argument of the grounds unless ordered by the presiding officer.

(d) Any offer of proof made in connection with an objection taken to the ruling of the presiding officer, excluding or rejecting proffered oral testimony, shall consist of a statement of the substance of the evidence which the party contends would be adduced by such testimony. If the excluded material is documentary or written, a copy of such material shall be marked for identification and shall constitute the offer of proof.

(e) Unless the presiding officer permits otherwise, written exhibits will not be received in evidence unless offered in duplicate. In addition, a copy of each such exhibit must be furnished each of the parties at the hearing, unless the parties have previously been furnished with copies or the presiding officer directs otherwise. The presiding officer shall fix a time for the exchange of exhibits. The presiding officer may permit a party to replace with a true copy an original document admitted as evidence.

(f) An official record of a governmental agency or an entry in such record, when admissible, may be evidenced by an official publication thereof or by a copy attested as a true copy by the officer having legal custody of the record, or by his deputy, and accompanied by a certificate that such officer has the custody.

§2.748 Interlocutory appeals to the Commission from rulings of presiding officers. Except as may be otherwise specifically provided, the rulings of a presiding officer may not be appealed from during the time the proceeding is pending before him, except in extraordinary circumstances where in the judgment to the presiding officer prompt decision by the Commission is necessary to prevent detriment to the public interest or unusual delay or expense. In such instances the matter shall be referred for determination forthwith by the presiding officer to the Commission.

$2.749 Proposed findings and conclusions. At the close of the reception of evidence, or within a reasonable time thereafter as fixed by the presiding officer, the parties may file for consideration proposed findings and conclusions with supporting reasons, briefs, or memoranda of law. Such proposals shall contain exact references to the record and authorities relied on.

§ 2.751 Intermediate decisions and their effect. (a) After hearing, the Presiding Officer will ordinarily render an intermediate decision, which decision shall become final unless exceptions are taken in accordance with $2.752, or the Commission has directed that the record be certified to it for final decision. An order that the record be certified to the Commission for final decision may be made not later than 10 days after the expiration of the period fixed pursuant to § 2.752 for the filing of exceptions by a party.

(b) However, in any case involving an application for an initial license the Commission may direct that the presiding officer certify the record to it without an intermediate decision. In such case the Commission may:

(1) Direct a responsible officer to prepare an intermediate decision which will not become final until the Commission acts upon it; or

(2) Prepare its own intermediate decision, which shall become final unless exceptions are taken in accordance with § 2.752; or