[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 14, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 11154-11155]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-04958]


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 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 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. 83, No. 50 / Wednesday, March 14, 2018 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 11154]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Chapter I

[NRC-2018-0044]


Clarification on Endorsement of Nuclear Energy Institute Guidance 
in Designing Digital Upgrades in Instrumentation and Control Systems

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory issue summary; request for comment and public 
meeting.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is seeking public 
comment on the draft Regulatory Issue Summary (RIS) 2002-22, Supplement 
1, ``Clarification on Endorsement of Nuclear Energy Institute Guidance 
in Designing Digital Upgrades in Instrumentation and Control Systems.'' 
This RIS Supplement clarifies the guidance in RIS 2002-22, which 
remains in effect. The NRC continues to endorse Nuclear Energy 
Institute 01-01 (NEI-01-01) as stated in RIS 2002-22, as clarified by 
the RIS Supplement.

DATES: Submit comments by March 29, 2018. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission 
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received before this 
date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0044. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-
9127; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     Mail comments to: May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail 
Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001.
    For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tekia Govan, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation (NRR), telephone: 301-415-6197, email: [email protected] 
of the 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-2018-0044 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain 
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0044.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection 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 RIS is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML18051A084.
     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-2018-0044 in your comment submission.
    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 into ADAMS.

II. Background

    The RIS is intended for all holders of and applicants for power 
reactor operating licenses or construction permits under 10 CFR part 
50, ``Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities,'' 
all holders of, and applicants for, a power reactor combined license, 
standard design approval, or manufacturing license, and all applicants 
for a standard design certification, under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, 
Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,'' and all 
holders of, and applicants for, a construction permit or an operating 
license for non-power production or utilization facilities under 10 CFR 
part 50, including all existing non-power reactors and proposed 
facilities for the production of medical radioisotopes, such as 
molybdenum-99, except those that have permanently ceased operations and 
have returned all of their fuel to the U.S. Department of Energy.
    In 2002, the NRC staff issued RIS 2002-22 to notify addressees that 
the NRC staff had reviewed NEI-01-01 and was endorsing the report for 
use as guidance in designing and implementing digital upgrades to 
nuclear power plant instrumentation and control systems. Following the 
NRC staff's 2002 endorsement of NEI 01-01, holders of operating 
licenses have used this guidance in support of digital design 
modifications implemented without prior NRC approval in accordance with 
10 CFR 50.59. The NRC inspections of documentation for these activities 
uncovered inconsistencies in the performance and documentation of 
engineering evaluations and associated technical bases for 
determinations on the 10 CFR 50.59(c)(2) evaluation criteria. This RIS 
Supplement clarifies

[[Page 11155]]

the RIS 2002-22 endorsement of the NEI 01-01 guidance by providing 
additional guidance for developing and documenting ``qualitative 
assessments'' that are used to provide an adequate basis for a 
licensee's determination that a digital modification will exhibit a low 
likelihood of failure to support a conclusion when applying 10 CFR 
50.59 that a license amendment is not needed.
    The NRC published a notice of opportunity for public comment on 
this RIS in the Federal Register on July 3, 2017 (82 FR 30913). 
Following that notice, the NRC staff engaged in multiple communications 
with the public and stakeholders and continued internal discussions 
about the RIS. As a result of these efforts, the NRC has substantially 
rewritten the RIS. Due to the extensive nature of these revisions, and 
in light of this additional opportunity for comment, the NRC is not 
directly responding to each comment received in the previous comment 
period. All comments and other communications associated with the 
previous version of this RIS can be found in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML18039A804.

Proposed Action

    The NRC is requesting public comments on the draft RIS. To the 
extent that the NRC's revisions have not resolved a comment that was 
submitted in the previous comment period, the NRC asks that such 
comments be resubmitted for further consideration. Because of the 
extensive communication about this RIS, the NRC believes that 
stakeholders will be able to submit comments quickly. In addition, the 
NRC seeks to issue this RIS as expeditiously as possible to minimize 
misunderstandings about the NRC's requirements for digital I&C 
modifications under 10 CFR 50.59. Therefore, the NRC is publishing the 
draft RIS with a 15 day comment period. Requests for extension of the 
comment period may be submitted as described above in the ADDRESSEES 
section.
    The NRC is also requesting specific comments on Figure 1 in the 
attachment of the draft RIS:
     Does Figure 1 clearly explain the engineering evaluation 
process (as described in Section 4 of the RIS attachment) to determine 
sufficient dependability, which may be used in performing and 
documenting a qualitative assessment (as described in Section 3 of the 
RIS attachment)?
     How could the figure and/or explanatory text in the draft 
RIS be modified to clarify the relationship between the engineering 
evaluation and qualitative assessment approaches described in the draft 
RIS?
    The NRC plans to hold a public meeting to discuss this RIS and the 
issues associated with clarification of the applicability of the 
endorsed NEI 01-01 guidance. All comments that are to receive 
consideration in the final RIS must still be submitted electronically 
or in writing as indicated in the ADDRESSES section of this document. 
Additional details regarding the meeting will be posted at least 10 
days prior to the public meeting on the NRC's Public Meeting Schedule 
website at http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/public-meetings/index.cfm. 
The NRC staff will make a final determination regarding issuance of the 
RIS after it considers any public comments received in response to this 
request.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this day of March 7, 2018.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Tekia Govan,
Project Manager, ROP Support and Generic Communication Branch, Division 
of Inspection and Regional Support, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2018-04958 Filed 3-13-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P