Communicating Technical Information: Different Approaches for Different Audiences - 19399
- Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (Canada)
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), Canada's independent nuclear regulator, has a 70- year history of regulating nuclear safety in Canada. Part of the CNSC's mandate is to disseminate objective scientific, technical and regulatory information to the public. The CNSC prides itself on being transparent with the public, and openly sharing scientific, technical and regulatory information on its regulatory activities with stakeholders. We value the public's feedback, and have a robust public participation program to allow for public involvement in the CNSC's activities. However, different audiences have different needs based on their level of technical knowledge and expertise. The CNSC's experience with stakeholder interactions has demonstrated the need to balance the dissemination of technical information through different communication platforms, in order to satisfy the needs of various intended audiences. This paper will focus on the radioactive waste management communications methods that the CNSC has implemented for two distinct audiences: 1. Audiences with little or no technical background: Communications with this audience requires techniques to make highly technical concepts more understandable. The focus is on educating about matters related to radioactive waste management, and informing about the safety aspects behind the regulation of radioactive waste. 2. Audiences with previous knowledge and experience with nuclear matters: Communications with this audience requires techniques to ensure that as much technical information and data as possible is available to inform stakeholders. The focus is on giving access to studies, research and raw data, in order to allow this audience to inform themselves, and potentially bring new perspectives to the CNSC's attention that could be used in regulatory oversight activities. In its capacity to disseminate scientific and technical information to the public as required by legislation, the CNSC holds a unique position compared with other Canadian regulatory bodies. The CNSC is one of the only Canadian regulators which: - Has a public hearing process which enables the public and Indigenous groups to express their issues and concerns directly to the decision-maker (the Commission) - Publishes regular regulatory oversight reports (report card on industry) that assess the safety performance of all its licensees - Publishes responses to all public comments received during consultation periods in our environmental assessment processes as well as our regulatory framework processes, including draft regulatory documents, discussions papers and proposed regulations - Has an independent environmental monitoring program, allowing the public access to environmental data. The program also seeks public and Indigenous input with respect to proposed environmental sampling campaigns, including suggestions on the samples to be taken and sampling locations. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 23003117
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-21-WM-19399; TRN: US21V1233043450
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM2019: 45. Annual Waste Management Conference, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 3-7 Mar 2019; Other Information: Country of input: France; available online at: https://www.xcdsystem.com/wmsym/2019/index.html
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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