[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 158 (Friday, August 14, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49685-49687]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-17763]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2020-0171]
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 for
public comment draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1363, ``Setpoints for
Safety-Related Instrumentation.'' This DG is proposed Revision 4 of
Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.105. The proposed revision describes an
approach that is acceptable to the staff of the NRC to meet regulatory
requirements ensuring that setpoints for safety related instrumentation
are established and maintained within the technical specification
limits. This proposed guide has been revised to incorporate additional
information regarding American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/
International Society of Automation (ISA) Standard 67.04.01-2018,
``Setpoints for Nuclear Safety Related Instrumentation,'' since
revision 3 of RG 1.105 was issued.
DATES: Submit comments by September 14, 2020. Comments received after
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before
this date. This public review and comment period is 30 days in
duration, although the public review and comment period for draft RGs
is usually 60 days. The shortened comment period is provided because
the NRC has previously interacted with stakeholders on related industry
and NRC guidance and the proposed revision endorses ANSI/ISA 67.04.01-
2018 without any exceptions or clarifications. As a result, the NRC
does not anticipate significant public comment. 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:
[[Page 49686]]
Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2020-0171. Address
questions about NRC docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges;
telephone: 301-287-9221; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop:
TWFN-7A06, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001. ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.
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: Dawnmathews Kalathiveettil, Office of
Nuclear Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-5905, email:
[email protected], and Michael Eudy, Office of Nuclear
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-3104, email:
[email protected]. Both are staff 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-2020-0171 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 https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2020-0171.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may access publicly-available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS
Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public
Document Room reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by
email to [email protected]. DG-1363 is available in ADAMS under
Accession No. ML20055G823 and the regulatory analysis for DG-1363 is
available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML20055G824.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2020-0171 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. Additional Information
The NRC is issuing for public comment a draft guide in the NRC's
``Regulatory Guide'' series. This series was developed to describe
methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific
parts of the agency's regulations, to explain techniques that the staff
uses in evaluating specific issues or postulated events, and to
describe information that the staff needs in its review of applications
for permits and licenses.
The DG, titled ``Setpoints for Safety-Related Instrumentation,'' is
temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1363 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML20055G823). The draft guide is proposed Revision 4 of Regulatory
Guide 1.105. This revision of the guide (Revision 4) endorses ANSI/ISA
Standard 67.04.01-2018 as a method acceptable to the NRC staff for
satisfying the NRC's regulations for ensuring that: (a) Setpoints for
safety-related instrumentation are established to protect plant safety
and analytical limits, and (b) the maintenance of instrument channels
implementing these setpoints ensures they are functioning as required,
consistent with the plant technical specifications. This DG applies to
licensees and applicants subject to part 50 of title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of Production and
Utilization Facilities,'' and 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses,
Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.''
The previous revision (Revision 3) of this RG endorsed ISA S67.04-
1994, ``Setpoints for Nuclear Safety-Related Instrumentation,'' with
several clarifications and exceptions. In July 2014, the NRC staff
issued DG-1141, ``Setpoints for Safety Related Instrumentation'' (ADAMS
Accession No. ML081630179), for public comment (79 FR 40163). This DG
evaluated the 2006 revision of the standard ANSI/ISA 67.04.01,
``Setpoints for Safety-Related Instrumentation.'' DG-1141 described
several concerns with the 2006 revision of the standard. These concerns
included the need for additional definitions, analytical limit
avoidance probability, use of the technical specification allowable
value as a metric for determining instrument channel functionality and
operability, and what to consider as an appropriate statistical
confidence level. The ANSI/ISA S67.04 Standards Committee addressed
these NRC staff concerns, as well as comments provided by industry
stakeholders, and issued a revision to the ANSI/ISA standard in
December 2018. The NRC staff elected not to finalize DG-1141 as a
revision to RG 1.105 and chose instead to evaluate the 2018 ANSI/ISA
standard revision for endorsement and issue DG-1363 as a replacement
for DG-1141. The staff notes that DG-1363 considers and addresses
technical issues and public comments related to the issuance of DG-
1141.
The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML20055G824). The staff develops a
regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising a
regulatory guide as well as alternative courses of action.
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
DG-1363, if finalized, would endorse ANSI/ISA Standard 67.04.01-
2018. Issuance of DG-1363, if finalized, would not constitute
backfitting as defined in 10 CFR 50.109, ``Backfitting,'' and as
described in NRC Management Directive (MD) 8.4, ``Management of
Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue Finality, and Information
Requests''; constitute forward fitting as that term is defined and
described in MD 8.4; or affect the issue finality of any approval
issued under 10 CFR part 52. As explained in DG-1363, applicants and
licensees would not be required to comply with the positions set forth
in DG-1363.
Dated: August 10, 2020.
[[Page 49687]]
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Meraj Rahimi,
Acting Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division
of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2020-17763 Filed 8-13-20; 8:45 am]
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