[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 133 (Friday, July 11, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40163-40164]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-16165]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2014-0163]


Setpoints for Safety-Related Instrumentation

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide, request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing draft 
regulatory guide (DG), DG-1141, ``Setpoints for Safety-Related 
Instruments'' for public comment. This DG is proposed Revision 4 of 
Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.105, ``Setpoints for Safety-Related 
Instrumentation.'' This DG describes proposed updates to the 
recommended practices and criteria for determining instrument setpoints 
and appropriate setpoint related criteria. This DG describes proposed 
practices and criteria that the staff of the NRC considers acceptable 
for demonstrating compliance with NRC requirements for ensuring that 
setpoints for safety related instruments are initially within, and 
should remain within, technical specification limits. This DG also 
proposes practices and criteria for establishing those technical 
specification limits and ensuring that those limits will adequately 
support the proper operation of the associated systems.

DATES: Submit comments by September 9, 2014. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if practical to do so, but the NRC is able 
to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this 
date. Although a time limit is given, comments and suggestions in 
connection with items for inclusion in guides currently being developed 
or improvements in all published guides are encouraged at any time.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 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-2014-0163. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: 3WFN 06A-A44M, U.S. Nuclear

[[Page 40164]]

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: Paul J. Rebstock, telephone: 301-251-
7488, email: [email protected] or Mark Orr, telephone: 301-251-
7495, email: [email protected]. Both of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory 
Research, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information.

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0163 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
obtain publicly-available information related to this document by any 
of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0163. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual(s) 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 ``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 regulatory guide 
is available electronically in ADAMS under Accession No. ML14149A361. 
The regulatory analysis may be found in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML101820157.
     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-2014-0163 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 enters 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 will not edit comment submissions to remove such 
information before making the comment submissions available to the 
public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.

II. Additional Information

    The NRC is issuing for public comment a DG in the NRC's 
``Regulatory Guide'' series. This series was developed to describe and 
make available to the public such information as methods that are 
acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the 
NRC's regulations, techniques that the staff uses in evaluating 
specific problems or postulated accidents, and data that the staff 
needs in its review of applications for permits and licenses.
    The DG, entitled, ``Setpoints for Safety-Related Instrumentation'' 
is temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1141. Draft regulatory 
guide, DG-1141 is proposed Revision 4 of RG 1.105. The DG describes 
practices and criteria that the staff of the NRC considers acceptable 
for compliance with NRC requirements for ensuring that setpoints for 
safety related instruments are initially within, and should remain 
within, technical specification limits. This DG also presents practices 
and criteria for establishing those technical specification limits and 
ensuring that those limits will adequately support the proper operation 
of the associated systems--that is, that establishing and maintaining 
setpoints in accordance with those limits will provide adequate 
assurance that a plant will operate as described in the plant safety 
analyses.
    This revision continues to address concerns expressed in the 
previous revision of this regulatory guide. The previous revision 
addressed problems with setpoint uncertainty allowances and setpoint 
discrepancies, which had led to a number of operational problems. This 
DG also addressed significant variability that had been observed in 
licensees' surveillance interval evaluations with regard to drift, 
setpoint methodology, and completeness. This DG enumerates a number of 
specific concerns in this area, observing that the listed concerns were 
resolved during the development of the 1994 version of ANSI/ISA-S67.04, 
Part 1-1994, ``Setpoints for Nuclear Safety-Related Instrumentation.''
    Copies of American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/
International Society of Automation (ISA) Standard ANSI/ISA-S67.04, 
Part 1-1994 may be obtained through the ISA Web site at www.isa.org or 
by writing to the International Society of Automation, 67 T.W. 
Alexander Dr., P.O. Box 12277, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, by 
email at [email protected], telephone: 919-549-8411, or fax at 919-549-8288

III. Backfitting and Issue Finality

    This DG, if finalized, would not constitute backfitting as defined 
in 10 CFR 50.109 (the Backfit Rule) and would not otherwise be 
inconsistent with the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52. As 
discussed in the ``Implementation'' section of this DG, the NRC has no 
current intention to impose this DG on holders of current operating 
licenses or combined licenses.
    This DG, if finalized, may be applied to applications for operating 
licenses and combined licenses docketed by the NRC as of the date of 
issuance of the final RG, as well as future applications for operating 
licenses and combined licenses submitted after the issuance of the RG. 
Such action does not constitute backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 
50.109(a)(1) or is otherwise inconsistent with the applicable issue 
finality provision in 10 CFR part 52, inasmuch as such applicants or 
potential applicants, with exceptions not applicable here, are not 
within the scope of entities protected by the Backfit Rule or the 
relevant issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 3rd day of July, 2014.
    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Harriet Karagiannis,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division 
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2014-16165 Filed 7-10-14; 8:45 am]
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