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Plain Writing Act Compliance 

Annual Report 

April 18, 2016 

Dissemination

In response to the Plain Writing Act of 2010, an action memorandum from the Executive Director 

for Operations instructed all managers to familiarize themselves with the requirements of the 

Act, and to encourage staff to take appropriate training. Staff is reminded to use plain language 

through periodic articles in the agency’s in-house newsletter, the NRC Reporter. The 

Commission has also directed staff to make greater use of plain language when speaking to the 

public about high profile events, such as the nuclear accident at Fukushima-Daiichi in Japan. 

Finally, the Executive Director issued follow-up guidance to the staff on improving the quality of 

documents, emphasizing clarity of writing and the use of plain language, with links to training 

opportunities. 

Action Plan

The NRC identified the following documents that should be the focus of plain writing: 

Performance Assessments, Generic Communications, Inspection Reports, and Significant 

Enforcement Actions. These are stored in the agency’s Agencywide Documents Access & 

Management System database and are accessible through the public web site and the Public 

Document Room in Rockville, MD. In cases where a document is necessarily technically 

complex, employees are instructed to provide a plain language cover memo or abstract. As 

resources are available, we will consider focusing on the following additional items: 

Regulation Abstracts, Regulation Forwards, Information Papers, and Agency Policy 

Statements. 

Web site

Consistent with the Act’s requirements, the NRC created a section of our public website, under 

the broader topic of Open Government, which outlines our Plain Writing Action Plan and also offers 

general guidance on plain writing at the NRC. All annual reports are posted there. 

Training

The NRC offers multiple training courses to teach elements of plain writing and clear 

communication. All staff members are encouraged to take the basic courses. Employees 

who write documents read by the public are encouraged to pursue the more extensive 

training options. These courses include: 

Two-Day Instructor-Led 

• Writing in Plain Language (Course ID 802) 

• Technical Writing (Course ID 1002) 

On-Line Courses 

• Business Writing: How to Write Clearly and Concisely (Course 

comm_19_a02_bs_enus) 

• Business Grammar: The Mechanics of Writing (Course comm_20_a03_be_enus) 

• The Plain Writing Act (Course fgov_01_a30_lc_enus) 
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• Plain Language (Course ID 3281) 

• Business Grammar: Sentence Construction (Course comm_20_a05_bs_enus) 

• Communicating Across Cultures (Course comm_26_a02_bs_enus) 

• The Art of Global Communication (Course COMM0022) 

In 2015, these courses were taken a combined 141 times. As of April 1, 2016, the 

courses have been taken an additional combined 65 times. 

Stakeholder Feedback

The NRC has a long-standing commitment to openness and transparency. Since the passage 

of the Plain Writing Act, the agency has implemented new subscription-based services on our 

public web site to enable stakeholders to keep abreast of the most current agency news and 

activities. We’ve enhanced stakeholder involvement in public meetings by expanding the use of 

Web event and virtual meeting technologies, and furthered collaboration within industry and 

government workgroups by using web conferencing technologies. We have also introduced 

new interactive mechanisms for stakeholder engagement, including five successful social 

media technologies: the NRC Blog, a Twitter feed, a YouTube channel, a Facebook page, and a 

Flickr photo gallery. The NRC Office of Public Affairs also continues an effort to rewrite 

“backgrounders” and fact sheets to enhance readability by applying the Flesch Grade Level 

Readability Formula.