42 U.S.C. § 2236
Section 2236 · Revocation of licenses
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 20 court decisions — leading case Silkwood v. Corporation (1984)
Most recently applied in Beyond Nuclear, Inc. v. NRC (August 2024)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Any license may be revoked for any material false statement in the application or any statement of fact required under section 2232 of this title, or because of conditions revealed by such application or statement of fact or any report, record, or inspection or other means which would warrant the Commission to refuse to grant a license on an original application, or for failure to construct or operate a facility in accordance with the terms of the construction permit or license or the technical specifications in the application, or for violation of, or failure to observe any of the terms and provisions of this chapter or of any regulation of the Commission.
The Commission shall follow the provisions of section 558(c) of title 5 in revoking any license.
Upon revocation of the license, the Commission may immediately retake possession of all special nuclear material held by the licensee. In cases found by the Commission to be of extreme importance to the national defense and security or to the health and safety of the public, the Commission may recapture any special nuclear material held by the licensee or may enter upon and operate the facility prior to any of the procedures provided under subchapter II of chapter 5 and chapter 7 of title 5. Just compensation shall be paid for the use of the facility.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
In subsecs. (b) and (c), “section 558(c) of title 5” and “subchapter II of chapter 5 and chapter 7 of title 5” substituted for “section 9(b) of the Administrative Procedure Act [5 U.S.C. 1008(b)]” and “the Administration Procedure Act [5 U.S.C. 1001–1011]”, respectively, on authority of Pub. L. 89–554, §7(b), Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 631, the first section of which enacted Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
Transfer of Functions
Atomic Energy Commission abolished and functions transferred by sections 5814 and 5841 of this title. See also Transfer of Functions notes set out under those sections.