[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]
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