[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 108 (Thursday, June 5, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32578-32579]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-13087]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2014-0129]


Embedded Digital Devices in Safety-Related Systems

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft revised regulatory issue summary; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is seeking public 
comment on draft revised regulatory issue summary (RIS) 2014-XX,

[[Page 32579]]

``Embedded Digital Devices in Safety-Related Systems.'' This RIS 
discusses and clarifies the NRC's technical position on existing 
regulatory requirements for the quality and reliability of safety-
related equipment with embedded digital devices.

DATES: Submit comments by July 7, 2014. Comments received after this 
date will be considered, if it is practical to do so, but the NRC staff 
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comment by any of the following methods 
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting 
comments on a specific subject):
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0129. 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.
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: 3WFN, 06-44M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001.
    For additional direction on accessing information and submitting 
comments, see ``Accessing Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eugene Eagle, Office of New Reactors, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; 
telephone: 301-415-3706; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments

A. Accessing Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0129 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
access publicly-available information related to this action by the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0129.
     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 ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and then 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 draft revised RIS is 
available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML13338A769.
     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.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2014-0129 in the subject line of your 
comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make 
your comment submission available to the public in this docket.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your 
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into 
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove 
identifying or contact information.
    If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons 
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to 
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be 
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should 
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to 
remove such information before making the comment submissions available 
to the public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.

II. Discussion

    The NRC issues RISs to communicate with stakeholders on a broad 
range of matters. This may include communicating staff technical 
positions on matters that have not been communicated to, or, are not 
broadly understood by the nuclear industry.
    The NRC staff has developed draft revised RIS 2014-XX, ``Embedded 
Digital Devices in Safety-Related Systems,'' to clarify the NRC's 
technical position on existing regulatory requirements for the quality 
and reliability of safety-related equipment with embedded digital 
devices. Further, the purpose is to also raise awareness that there may 
be potential safety issues from a postulated common cause failure (CCF) 
if an undetected software error should occur in embedded digital 
devices located in multiple trains of redundant safety equipment in 
nuclear facilities.
    This RIS is available electronically through the Agencywide 
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession Number 
ML13338A769. This RIS is a revision of the original draft RIS 2013-XX, 
``Embedded Digital Devices in Safety-Related Systems, Systems Important 
to Safety, and Items Relied on For Safety,'' (ADAMS Accession Number 
ML12248A065) issued for public comment May 20, 2013 and reflects 
adjustments made in response to the public comments received. A table 
of the public comments received on the original draft RIS with the NRC 
staff response is publically available electronically (ADAMS Accession 
Number ML13351A204).

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd day of April 2014.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Ian C. Jung,
Branch Chief, Instrumentation, Controls, and Electronics Engineering 
Branch 2, Division of Engineering, Office of New Reactor.
[FR Doc. 2014-13087 Filed 6-4-14; 8:45 am]
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