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Rules and Regulations
Federal Register Vol. 86, No. 105
Thursday, June 3, 2021

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains regulatory documents having general applicability and legal effect, most of which are keyed to and codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, which is published under 50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.
The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by the Superintendent of Documents.

NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
10 CFR Chapter I
NRC20200262

Evidence-Building and Evaluation Policy Statement Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Policy statement; issuance.
AGENCY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission NRC is issuing an Evidence-Building and Evaluation Policy Statement that describes the general standards that guide the NRCs evidence-building activities, consistent with the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018. The policy statement is intended to provide agency personnel and stakeholders with a clear understanding of the expectations related to the NRCs standards for evidence-building activities, which includes analyses, research, assessments, and evaluations performed by the agency for programmatic, operational, regulatory, and policy decision making. These standards include rigor, relevance and utility, transparency, collaboration, independence and objectivity, and ethics.

SUMMARY:

This policy statement is effective on June 3, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID
NRC20200262 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 NRC20200262. Address questions about NRC dockets to Dawn Forder; telephone: 3014153407;
email: Dawn.Forder@nrc.gov. For technical questions contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER

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section of this document.
NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System ADAMS: You may obtain publiclyavailable 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 NRCs Public Document Room PDR
reference staff at 18003974209, at 3014154737, or by email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The final Evidence-Building and Evaluation Policy Statement, in its entirety, is in the attachment to this document.
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 18003974209 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Matthew Meyer, Office of the Executive Director for Operations, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 205550001, telephone: 301415
6198, email: Matthew.Meyer@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
INFORMATION CONTACT

I. Background The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 Evidence Act became law on January 14, 2019
Pub. L. 115435, to enhance evidencebuilding activities, make data more accessible, and strengthen privacy protections.1 The Evidence Act creates a new paradigm by calling on agencies to significantly rethink how they currently plan and organize evidence-building, data management, and data access functions to ensure an integrated and direct connection to data and evidence needs. 2 The Evidence Act requires each agency to name an Evaluation Officer. At the NRC, the Director of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research holds this position and must establish and implement an agency evaluation policy to fulfill a 1 Public
Law 115435, 132 Stat 5529 2019.
of Management and Budget, M1923, Phase 1 Implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: Learning Agendas, Personnel, and Planning Guidance, 2
July 10, 2019.
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primary function of this position.3 The agency evaluation policy should guide the agencys activities throughout the evaluation lifecycle. 4 The Office of Management and Budget OMB has provided guidance on establishing an agency evaluation policy based on approaches that Federal agencies have found useful. 5 This guidance includes ensuring that the agency evaluation policy incorporates the evaluation standards recommended by OMB.6
OMB developed these evaluation standards through an interagency council that reviewed an extensive list of source documents to identify widely accepted standards for evaluation. 7
The interagency council identified the following evaluation standards:
relevance and utility, rigor, independence and objectivity, transparency, and ethics.8
The Evidence Act focuses on the importance of sound evidence-building, which includes evaluation, to make informed evidence-based decisions. The evaluation standards developed by the interagency council, including an additional standard developed by the NRC collaboration, are applicable to all of the NRCs evidence-building activities.
Historically, the NRC has relied on high-quality evidence obtained from external entities and through its own capacity. In recent years the agency has begun evidence-building activities to support licensing new or novel nuclear technologies, including advanced, nonlight water reactor designs; accident tolerant nuclear fuel; and digital instrumentation and controls.9
Additionally, the NRC has increasingly sought to rely on evidence-based metrics to improve internal agency performance including budgeting and financial management.10 The NRC has developed an evidence-building and evaluation policy statement to enhance its existing evidence-building activities 35

U.S.C. 313d3.
of Management and Budget, M2012, Phase 4 Implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: Program Evaluation Standards and Practices, Appendix C
March 10, 2020 M2012.
5 M2012, Appendix C.
6 Id.
7 Id. at 2.
8 Id. at 35.
9 Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NUREG1350, 20192020 Information Digest, at 4 August 2019.
10 Id. at 7.
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