[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 136 (Friday, July 16, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38485-38486]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-18161]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Design and Assessment Issues in Safety-Critical Digital Systems

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of seminar.

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SUMMARY: The NRC has committed through its Strategic Plan to 
incorporate risk insights, conduct anticipatory research on issues of 
potential regulatory and safety significance, engage in cooperative 
research agreements, and provide timely information to our 
stakeholders. As part of this commitment, a seminar has been 
established to present on-going anticipatory research in the safety 
assessment of digital systems. This research is conducted through a 
cooperative agreement between academia and the government. The goal of 
this seminar is to inform our stakeholders of current research 
activities and to solicit their perspectives and interest in safety 
assessment of digital systems.

DATE: August 5, 1999--The seminar will begin at 8:00 a.m. and end at 
5:00 p.m.

LOCATION: Thornton Hall, Room 316, University of Virginia, 
Charlottesville, VA 22903.

CONTACT:
Registration--Francine Randolph, Phone: (301) 415-6798, E-mail: 
[email protected]
General--John Calvert, Phone: (301) 415-6323, E-mail: [email protected]

[[Page 38486]]

Terry Jackson, Phone: (301) 415-6486, E-mail: [email protected]

ATTENDANCE: This seminar is free and open to the general public. All 
individuals planning to attend should pre-register with Ms. Francine 
Randolph by telephone or e-mail and provide their name, affiliation, 
phone number, and e-mail address.

PROGRAM: This seminar presents a survey of safety assessment practices 
found in nuclear, aviation, medical, railway, and other applications 
where the correct operation of a digital system is crucial to system 
safety. It also presents new research results related to digital design 
and safety assessment. The seminar is partitioned into two half-day 
sessions. The morning session examines the design of safety-critical 
digital systems, and the afternoon session addresses the assessment of 
safety-critical systems. Both sessions demonstrate techniques by 
illustrating their application to real industrial systems.

I. Issues in the Design of Safety-Critical Systems

     Important terminology and concepts.
     Industry approaches and applications of safety-critical 
systems.
     Design methodologies and processes for safety-critical 
systems.
     Impact of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and 
software on safety-critical system design.
     Design principles for safety-critical systems.
     A safety-critical digital design methodology, 
architecture, application, and implementation.

II. Issues in the Assessment of Safety-Critical Systems

     Safety assessment methodologies and processes for digital 
systems.
     Probabilistic modeling techniques for digital systems.
     Critical digital system parameters that impact safety.
     Fault coverage modeling and estimation.
     Impact of fault coverage on digital system safety.
     Example assessment of an industrial safety-critical 
digital system.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

    Dated in Rockville, Maryland this 12th day of July 1999.
John W. Craig,
Director, Division of Engineering Technology, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research
[FR Doc. 99-18161 Filed 7-15-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P