HOW to NEUTRALIZE EFFECT of COGNITIVE BIASES on REGULATORY SAFETY EVALUATION

Title: How to Neutralize Effect of Cognitive Biases on Regulatory Safety Evaluation.

This project aims to enable performance-based risk-informed regulatory safety evaluation without letting evaluators’ cognitive biases influence the safety conclusion. Although the result of this research is expected to be useful broadly in nuclear safety, safety-related digital automation and its interactions with its environment (esp. humans) are emerging as the objects of increasing concern.
NRC expects a demonstrated consistently implementable capability to neutralize cognitive biases in performance-based risk-informed licensing reviews to the extent necessary for reaching correct safety conclusions across different types of designs and safety functions and with consistency across reviewers. Ideally, the solution should be applicable to all kinds of licensing reviews for safety evaluation.
The scope includes a comprehensive plan for transformation from the current state to the desired state, demonstrated (through a pilot) to be implementable. It includes plans for revisions and additions to the relevant guidance documents and internal processes and procedures and transformation of the capabilities of licensing reviewers.
1) Establish the technical basis to develop practical approaches (e.g., guidance, methods, or tools) for neutralizing the effect of cognitive biases on regulatory safety evaluation - validated at a pilot scale.

2) Demonstrate, at a pilot scale, that the practical approaches can be implemented effectively.
3) Build staff capability - demonstrated at a pilot scale.