§ 2.1231 - Hearing file; prohibition on discovery.

(a) Within thirty (30) days of the presiding officer's entry of an order granting a request for a hearing, the NRC staff shall file in the docket, present to the presiding officer, and make available to the applicant and any other party to the proceeding a hearing file. Thereafter, within ten (10) days of the date a petition for leave to intervene or a request to participate under § 2.1211(b) is granted, the NRC staff shall make the hearing file available to the petitioner or the § 2.1211(b) participant.

(1) The hearing file must be made available to the applicant and any other party or § 2.1211(b) participant to the proceeding either by—

(i) Service in accordance with § 2.1203(e); or

(ii) Making the file available at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov.

(2) The hearing file also must be made available for public inspection and copying at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov, and/or at the NRC Public Document Room.

(b) The hearing file will consist of the application and any amendment thereto, any NRC environmental impact statement or assessment relating to the application, and any NRC report and any correspondence between the applicant and the NRC that is relevant to the application. Hearing file documents already available at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov, and/or at the NRC Public Document Room when the hearing request is granted may be incorporated into the hearing file at those locations by a reference indicating where at those locations the documents can be found. The presiding officer shall rule upon any issue regarding the appropriate materials for the hearing file.

(c) The NRC staff has a continuing duty to keep the hearing file up to date with respect to the materials set forth in paragraph (b) of this section and to provide those materials for the docket, the presiding officer, and the applicant or any party or § 2.1211(b) participant in a manner consistent with the way the hearing file was made available initially under paragraph (a).

(d) A party or § 2.1211(b) participant may not seek discovery from any other party, § 2.1211(b) participant, or the NRC or its personnel, whether by document production, deposition, interrogatories, or otherwise.