[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 152 (Tuesday, August 7, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38731-38732]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-16810]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2018-0056]


Digital Instrumentation and Controls-Interim Staff Guidance-06, 
``Licensing Process''

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft interim staff guidance; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting 
public comment on its draft Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) Digital 
Instrumentation and Controls (DI&C)-ISG-06, ``Licensing Process.'' This 
ISG defines the licensing process used to support the review of license 
amendment requests (LARs) associated with safety-related DI&C equipment 
modifications in operating plants and in new plants once they become 
operational. This ISG provides guidance for activities performed before 
an LAR is submitted and for activities performed during the LAR review. 
The NRC staff uses the process described in this ISG to evaluate 
compliance with NRC regulations.

DATES: Submit comments by September 6, 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-2018-0056. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-
9127; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual 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: Joseph Golla, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-1002, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2018-0056 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-2018-0056.
     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 ISG DI&C-ISG-06 ``Licensing Process,'' is available in ADAMS 
under Accession No. ML18123A118.
     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-2018-0056 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

    This ISG provides guidance for the NRC staff's review of LARs 
supporting installation of digital I&C equipment in accordance with 
licensing processes defined in NRC office instruction LIC-101, 
``License Amendment Review Procedures.'' This ISG identifies 
information the NRC staff should review for digital I&C equipment. This 
ISG provides guidance on when that information should be reviewed.
    This ISG is designed to be used with the NRC's topical report 
review and approval process defined in NRC Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation office instruction LIC-500, ``Topical Report Process.'' 
Where a licensee references an NRC-approved topical report, the NRC 
staff should be able to, where

[[Page 38732]]

appropriate, limit its review to assessing whether the application of 
the digital I&C modification falls within the envelope of the topical 
report approval. This ISG was developed based upon, and is designed to 
work in concert with, established guidance. As a result, this ISG 
references other guidance documents for review criteria.
    The NRC staff performs evaluations of proposed digital I&C 
equipment to ensure equipment will perform required functions. These 
evaluations use the guidance in the Standard Review Plan, Chapter 7, 
and other associated guidance. When a license amendment is required, 
licensees are obligated to provide a description of the licensing basis 
functions of digital I&C equipment and include a description of the 
equipment that implements the functions. Additionally, licensees 
identify those parts of the licensing basis being updated as a result 
of the proposed change.
    The NRC staff review processes include activities for evaluating 
documentation of plans and processes which are used to support system 
development activities and their outcomes.
    The Standard Review Plan, Appendix 7.0-A, and Branch Technical 
Position 7-14, guide the NRC staff in performing reviews of digital 
systems in support of safety evaluations. For reviews using the 
Alternate Process as defined in the ISG, the ISG provides additional 
guidance for performing early stage reviews of digital safety-related 
systems in support of safety evaluations. The NRC staff may review the 
system design and development process to support a determination that 
the design meets regulatory requirements and that in safety-related 
applications in nuclear power plants, the process is of sufficient high 
quality to produce systems and software suitable for use.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 1st day of August 2018.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Eric J. Benner,
Director, Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2018-16810 Filed 8-6-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P