Meeting of the International Nuclear Regulators Association

Input for Item 6: 

Communications -- Talking Points 

 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) views nuclear regulation as the

public’s business, and as such, identifies openness in its regulatory process as

an explicit goal of the Agency. The Commission is preparing to release its

recently revised Strategic Plan which establishes “ensuring openness” as one of

the agency’s long-term strategic objectives. 

 The NRC recognizes that it must inform the public about the regulatory process,

and offer a reasonable opportunity for meaningful participation in that process. 

 Over the past several years, the NRC has been examining ways to enhance

public involvement and foster confidence in the NRC’s actions as an effective

and independent regulator. 

 The NRC continues to seek and to expand opportunities for public access to

process and risk information that is clear and understandable. 

 Communications activities and recent improvements to NRC’s program include:

NRC staff represents the U.S. in the OECD/NEA “Forum on Stakeholder

Confidence”, and serves on its core group . 

NRC established a high-level agency task force to develop strategies for

comprehensive and effective communications with external stakeholders.

Task force was chartered by Chairman Diaz and led by Commissioner

Merrifield. Task force report was issued August 7, 2003

Chairman Diaz established a new position, NRC Director of

Communication, to provide integrated agency leadership and direction for

external communications. 

For several years, the NRC staff has developed and implemented

communications plans for all high priority agency activities. 

Public meeting preparation and training is made available to NRC staff

through the NRC’s training center.

Individual program offices have implemented major changes to the way in

which technical staff prepare for speaking with general audiences. They 

have employed new formats and used professional facilitators in public

meetings. NRC staff continue to develop plain language handout and

display materials to explain NRC regulatory programs more clearly. 

These and other institutional changes have been applied successfully in

many public meetings on high-profile topics.
NRC recently published NUREG/BR-0308, “Effective Risk

Communications: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Guidelines for

External Risk Communication” to provide NRC staff and management

with practical, easy-to-use guidance on how to improve interactions with

external stakeholders on risk related matters.

NUREG/CR-6840, “The Technical Basis for the NRC’s Guidelines for

External Risk Communication” compares the NRC’s risk communication

needs to the state-of-the art in risk communication practices. It presents

data collected during development of the Risk Communication Guidelines

and recommends how the NRC can best incorporate risk communication

principles throughout the agency. 

The NRC staff is improving public outreach by holding a larger fraction of

its public meetings near potential or currently licensed facilities instead of

at NRC headquarters or regional offices. Meetings about reactor license

renewal, consideration of early reactor site permits, and oversight of a

potential repository at Yucca Mountain are examples of public meetings

that NRC conducts routinely in or near the affected communities.

The NRC established a Communications Council to plan, coordinate, and

implement NRC internal communications strategies, and share best

practices that add value across the agency. The Council is primarily

focused on internal communication issues, however there may be

instances where external communication activities or policies are affected

by decisions made internally. 

 What’s next in risk communication?

NRC is also developing internal risk communication guidelines. These

guidelines are intended to improve communications by providing

inspectors, risk analysts, and other staff with practical advice on

documenting and communicating risk analysis and risk insight information

within NRC. 

NRC is developing additional training on risk communication to provide

NRC staff with an interactive forum for practicing and reinforcing risk

communication principles for both external and internal communication.

NRC staff continue to pursue innovative techniques for communicating

more effectively with the public it serves.