[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 26 (Friday, February 7, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 7406]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-02493]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 26 / Friday, February 7, 2014 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 7406]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Chapter 1
[Docket No. PRM-73-17; NRC-2013-0214]
Programmable Logic Computers in Nuclear Power Plant Control
Systems
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Petition for rulemaking; notice of acceptance and docketing.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received a
petition for rulemaking (PRM), PRM-73-17, filed on March 14, 2013, as
supplemented through December 19, 2013, from Mr. Alan Morris (the
petitioner). The petitioner requests that the NRC require ``new-design
programmable logic computers'' to be installed in the control systems
of nuclear power plants to block malware attacks on their industrial
control systems of those facilities. In addition, the petitioner
requests that nuclear power plant staff be trained ``in the programming
and handling of the non-rewriteable memories'' for nuclear power
plants. The NRC is not requesting public comment on this petition at
this time.
DATES: February 7, 2014.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0214 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information for this petition. You may
access publicly-available information related to this petition by any
of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0214. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may access publicly-available documents online in the NRC
Library at http://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
[email protected]. The ADAMS accession number for each document
referenced in this document (if that document is available in ADAMS) is
provided the first time that a document is referenced.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, 20852.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert H. Beall, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-3814, email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. The Petitioner.
Mr. Alan Morris of Morris and Ward, Consulting Engineers, filed a
petition for rulemaking with the Commission on March 14, 2013, as
supplemented through December 19, 2013 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML14016A458). The petitioner states that he is interested in protecting
the critical infrastructure of the United States, and has developed and
patented ``hacker-blocking technology'' for non-rewriteable memories to
be used with programmable logic computers (PLCs) of industrial control
systems.
II. The Petition
The petitioner requests that the NRC require ``new-design
programmable logic computers'' to be installed in the control systems
of critical infrastructure facilities (nuclear power plants), in order
to ``block malware attacks on the industrial control systems of those
facilities.'' The petitioner also requests that nuclear power plant
staff be trained to maintain and secure records of all memory
programming, and recommends maintenance in secure storage of programmed
memories that may be again employed, as ``the control systems of
critical facilities are essentially steady-state.'' The petitioner
states that the proposed action would ``[r]educe impact on quality of
the natural and social environments by stopping disastrous events at
critical facilities.''
The petition notes that ``[a]n industrial control system (ICS) is
used to control equipment in a local area such as a production plant,
while a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system is used
to control equipment in a wide geographical area such as an electric
power grid.'' The petition goes on to say that ``[t]he basic element of
an ICS is an industrial controller known as a programmable logic
computer (PLC). Programmed into the memory of the PLC are the
operations of the equipment in the ICS.''
The complete text of the petition, as amended (ADAMS Accession No.
ML14016A458), is available for review as described in the ADDRESSES
section of this document.
Because the petitioner has satisfied the acceptance criteria in
Sec. 2.802(c) of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the NRC
has accepted, and will review the petition to determine whether it
should be considered in the rulemaking process.
The NRC is not requesting public comment on this petition at this
time.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 27th day of January 2014.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2014-02493 Filed 2-6-14; 8:45 am]
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