79044 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 236 / Tuesday, December 8, 2020 / Notices 

17Management Directive 3.17, ‘‘Information 

Quality Program,’’ ensures that peer review is 

conducted on all influential scientific information 

and highly influential scientific assessment that the 

agency intends to disseminate. 

measurements, financial and cost data, 

and program administrative data. The 

NRC carries out evidence-building and 

evaluation activities to (1) identify, 

evaluate, and resolve safety issues; (2) 

ensure that an independent technical 

basis exists to review licensee 

submittals; (3) evaluate operating 

experience and results of risk 

assessments for safety implications; and 

(4) support the development and use of 

risk-informed regulatory approaches. 

Evaluation Standards 

The NRC staff will use the following 

evaluation standards when conducting 

evaluations. 

1. Rigor—The NRC is committed to 

using rigorous evaluation methods by 

qualified evaluators with relevant 

education, skills, and experience to 

ensure evaluations are appropriate and 

feasible within statutory, budgetary, and 

other constraints. 

Rigorous evaluations require 

inferences about cause and effect to be 

well founded (internal validity); clarity 

about the populations, settings, or 

circumstances to which results can be 

generalized (external validity); and the 

use of measures that accurately capture 

the intended information (measurement 

reliability and validity). The NRC’s 

evaluations are conducted by qualified 

staff with relevant education, skills, and 

experience for the methods undertaken. 

The NRC’s evaluations use appropriate 

designs and methods that adhere to 

widely accepted scientific principles to 

answer key questions while balancing 

goals, scale, timeline, feasibility, and 

available resources. Additionally, the 

NRC’s Information Quality Program 17

ensures that all information relied on by 

the NRC is subject to rigorous quality 

standards. 

2. Relevance and Utility—The NRC 

will ensure that evaluations are relevant 

and provide useful findings to inform 

agency activities and actions and 

stakeholders. 

The NRC performs evaluations to 

examine questions of importance and 

serve the information needs of 

stakeholders. The NRC’s evaluations 

present findings that are clear, concise, 

actionable, and available within a 

timeline that is appropriate to the 

questions under consideration. The 

NRC’s evaluation priorities consider 

legislative requirements; the NRC’s 

strategic safety and security goals, 

objectives, and strategies; and the 

interests and views of stakeholders. 

3. Transparency—The NRC is 

committed to conducting evaluations in 

an open and transparent manner, which 

keeps stakeholders informed of the 

agency’s evaluation activities. 

NRC activities will be conducted 

openly and the public must be informed 

about and have an opportunity to 

participate in the NRC’s regulatory 

process. As a regulator, the NRC will 

listen to, respect, and analyze different 

views from stakeholders. The NRC will 

also ensure open channels of 

communication are maintained between 

the NRC and stakeholders, including 

Congress, other government agencies, 

licensees, nongovernmental 

organizations, individual members of 

the public, and international and 

domestic nuclear communities. The 

NRC takes reasonable efforts to make all 

information, including information 

about the NRC’s evaluations (including 

their purpose, objectives, design, 

findings, and evaluation methods), 

broadly available and accessible. The 

NRC releases public evaluation findings 

in a timely manner and archives the 

evaluation data for secondary use by 

stakeholders, as appropriate. 

4. Collaboration—The NRC is 

committed to working collaboratively 

when conducting evaluations and draws 

on the expertise of subject matter 

experts to ensure diversity in 

perspectives. 

The NRC fosters a collaborative work 

environment that encourages diverse 

views, alternative approaches, critical 

thinking, creative problem solving, 

unbiased evaluations, and honest 

feedback. The NRC emphasizes trust, 

respect, and open communication to 

promote a positive work environment 

that maximizes the potential of all 

individuals, which improves evidence 

building and evaluation activities. A 

collaborative environment leverages 

expertise from subject matter experts 

and enables peer reviews to ensure 

rigorous evaluations. The NRC also 

conducts research and collaborates with 

organizations that develop consensus 

standards to improve data and methods 

used in risk analysis. The NRC 

collaborates with national laboratories, 

other Federal agencies, universities, and 

international organizations. 

5. Independence and Objectivity—As 

an independent Federal agency, the 

NRC is committed to conducting 

evaluations that are independent and 

based on objective assessments of all 

relevant information. 

The NRC was established as an 

independent agency to regulate civilian 

uses of radioactive material. The NRC’s 

evaluations will be independent and 

objective to maintain credibility. The 

implementation of evaluation activities, 

including the selection and function of 

the evaluators, should be appropriately 

insulated from factors that may affect 

their objectivity, impartiality, and 

professional judgment. Evaluations are 

inclusive and seek diverse participation 

from stakeholders in setting evaluation 

priorities, identifying evaluation 

questions, and assessing the 

implications of findings. The NRC 

strives for objectivity in the planning 

and conduct of evaluations. 

6. Ethics—The NRC is committed to 

conducting evaluations that adhere to 

Government-wide ethics standards to 

protect the public and maintain public 

trust. 

The NRC’s evaluations comply with 

relevant legal requirements and are 

conducted in a manner that is free from 

conflicts of interest, undue influence, 

and the appearance of bias and that 

safeguards the dignity, rights, safety, 

and privacy of participants. The NRC 

complies with Governmentwide ethics 

standards contained in Federal statutes 

and regulations, which are intended to 

ensure that every citizen can have 

confidence in the integrity of the 

Federal Government. 

IV. Specific Request for Comments 

The NRC is interested in obtaining 

feedback from stakeholders on the 

proposed Evaluation Policy Statement. 

The focus of this request is to gather 

information that will permit the NRC 

staff to develop the final Evaluation 

Policy Statement. The NRC is 

particularly interested in comments that 

address the extent to which the 

proposed Evaluation Policy Statement 

will facilitate the agency’s review of 

new and novel technologies and the 

agency’s efforts to improve internal 

performance. 

Dated: December 2, 2020. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Annette L. Vietti-Cook, 

Secretary of the Commission. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26864 Filed 12–7–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2020–0192] 

Consolidated Decommissioning 

Guidance, Characterization, Survey, 

and Determination of Radiological 

Criteria 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Draft NUREG; request for 

comment. 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 236 / Tuesday, December 8, 2020 / Notices 79045 

SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is issuing a draft 

report for comment, NUREG–1757, 

Volume 2, Revision 2, ‘‘Consolidated 

Decommissioning Guidance, 

Characterization, Survey, and 

Determination of Radiological Criteria.’’ 

NUREG–1757 has been revised to 

address lessons learned and experience 

gained from review of license 

termination plans, decommissioning 

plans, and final status surveys for 

licensees undergoing license 

termination since the last revision to the 

document in September 2006. This 

NUREG is intended for use by 

applicants, licensees, and the NRC staff. 

DATES: Submit comments by February 8, 

2021. Comments received after this date 

will be considered if it is practical to do 

so, but the NRC is able to ensure 

consideration only for comments 

received on or before this date. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods; 

however, the NRC encourages electronic 

comment submission through the 

Federal Rulemaking Website: 

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2020–0192. Address 

questions about Docket IDs in 

regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges; 

telephone: 301–287–9127; email: 

Jennifer.Borges@nrc.gov. For technical 

questions, contact the individual listed 

in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section of this document. 

• Mail comments to: Office of 

Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN–7– 

A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001, ATTN: Program Management, 

Announcements and Editing Staff. 

For additional direction on obtaining 

information and submitting comments, 

see ‘‘Obtaining Information and 

Submitting Comments’’ in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly 

available documents online in the 

ADAMS Public Documents collection at 

https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/ 

adams.html. To begin the search, select 

‘‘Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.’’ For 

problems with ADAMS, please contact 

the NRC’s Public Document Room (PDR) 

reference staff at 1–800–397–4209, 301– 

415–4737, or by email to pdr.resource@

nrc.gov. NUREG–1757, Volume 2, 

Revision 2, is located in ADAMS under 

Accession Number ML20273A010. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Cynthia Barr, Office of Nuclear Material 

Safety and Safeguards; U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Washington, 

DC 20555–0001; telephone: 301–415– 

4015; email: cynthia.barr@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and 

Submitting Comments 

A. Obtaining Information 

Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2020– 

0192 when contacting the NRC about 

the availability of information for this 

action. You may obtain publicly 

available information related to this 

action by any of the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2020–0192. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly 

available documents online in the 

ADAMS Public Documents collection at 

https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/ 

adams.html. To begin the search, select 

‘‘Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.’’ For 

problems with ADAMS, please contact 

the NRC’s Public Document Room (PDR) 

reference staff at 1–800–397–4209, 301– 

415–4737, or by email to pdr.resource@

nrc.gov. NUREG–1757, Volume 2, 

Revision 2, is located at ADAMS 

Accession Number ML20273A010. 

• Attention: The PDR, where you may 

examine and order copies of public 

documents is currently closed. You may 

submit your request to the PDR via 

email at PDR.Resource@nrc.gov or call 

1–800–397–4209 between 8:00 a.m. and 

4:00 p.m. (EST), Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. 

B. Submitting Comments 

The NRC encourages electronic 

comment submission through the 

Federal Rulemaking website (https://

www.regulations.gov). Please include 

Docket ID NRC–2020–0192 in your 

comment submission. 

The NRC cautions you not to include 

identifying or contact information that 

you do not want to be publicly 

disclosed in your comment submission. 

The NRC will post all comment 

submissions at https://

www.regulations.gov as well as enter the 

comment submissions into ADAMS. 

The NRC does not routinely edit 

comment submissions to remove 

identifying or contact information. 

If you are requesting or aggregating 

comments from other persons for 

submission to the NRC, then you should 

inform those persons not to include 

identifying or contact information that 

they do not want to be publicly 

disclosed in their comment submission. 

Your request should state that the NRC 

does not routinely edit comment 

submissions to remove such information 

before making the comment 

submissions available to the public or 

entering the comment into ADAMS. 

II. Discussion 

The NRC is issuing for public 

comment, Revision 2 to NUREG–1757, 

Volume 2, ‘‘Consolidated 

Decommissioning Guidance, 

Characterization, Survey, and 

Determination of Radiological Criteria.’’ 

NUREG–1757 has been revised to 

address lessons learned and experience 

gained from review of license 

termination plans, decommissioning 

plans, and final status surveys for 

licensees undergoing license 

termination. The NUREG has been 

updated to include new guidance 

related to dose modeling, as low as 

reasonably achievable (ALARA) criteria, 

surface water and groundwater 

characterization, use of engineered 

barriers, and radiological surveys (e.g., 

composite sampling, subsurface 

surveys, and surveys demonstrating 

indistinguishability from background). 

The NRC staff recognizes that the 

proposed revisions to NUREG–1757 are 

significant advancements. Licensee may 

choose to take advantage of these 

advancements immediately. However, 

this draft NUREG–1757 is being 

published for comment, and the NRC 

staff may make revisions and 

corrections in the final document. Such 

changes from draft guidance would not 

be a change in position because a draft 

guidance document issued for comment 

does not constitute a staff position. 

This NUREG is intended for use by 

applicants, licensees, and the NRC staff. 

The purpose of this notice is to notify 

the public that NUREG–1757, Volume 2, 

Revision 2 is being issued as a draft 

report for comment. 

Dated: December 2, 2020. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Patricia K. Holahan, 

Director, Division of Decommissioning, 

Uranium Recovery, and Waste Programs, 

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 

Safeguards. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26876 Filed 12–7–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

PEACE CORPS 

Information Collection Request; 

Submission for OMB Review 

AGENCY: Peace Corps. 

ACTION: 60-Day notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The Peace Corps will be 

submitting the following information 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES