[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 47 (Friday, March 10, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 14957-14958]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-04805]


 ========================================================================
 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. 88, No. 47 / Friday, March 10, 2023 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 14957]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 50 and 52

[NRC-2022-0143]


Draft Regulatory Guide: Criteria for Programmable Digital Devices 
in Safety-Related Systems of Nuclear Power Plants

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Proposed guide; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for 
public comment a draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-1374, ``Criteria for 
Programmable Digital Devices in Safety-Related Systems of Nuclear Power 
Plants.'' This DG is proposed Revision 4 of Regulatory Guide (RG) 
1.152, ``Criteria for Use of Computers in Safety Systems of Nuclear 
Power Plants.'' DG-1374 describes an approach that is acceptable to the 
NRC staff to meet regulatory requirements for promoting high functional 
reliability, design quality, and a secure development and operational 
environment (SDOE) for the use of programmable digital devices (PDDs) 
in the safety-related systems of nuclear power generating stations.

DATES: Submit comments by April 10, 2023. 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.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods; 
however, the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the 
Federal rulemaking website:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2022-0143. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; 
telephone: 301-415-0624; 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-7-A60M, 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: Michael Eudy, Office of Nuclear 
Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-415-3104, email: 
[email protected] and Khoi Nguyen, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-6839, 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-2022-0143 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-2022-0143.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain 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 (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or 
by email to [email protected]. The ADAMS accession number for each 
document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first 
time that it is mentioned in this document.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents, by appointment, at the NRC's PDR, Room P1 B35, One White 
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. To make 
an appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to 
[email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 8 
a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (ET), Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays.

B. Submitting Comments

    The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the 
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please 
include Docket ID NRC-2022-0143 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 
https://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 DG 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, entitled ``Criteria for Programmable Digital Devices in 
Safety-Related Systems of Nuclear Power Plants,'' is temporarily 
identified by its task number, DG-1374 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML23012A242).
    This revision (Revision 4) of the guide endorses the Institute of 
Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Standard (Std) 7-4.3.2-2016, 
``IEEE Standard Criteria for Programmable Digital Devices in Safety 
Systems of Nuclear

[[Page 14958]]

Power Generating Stations,'' with some exceptions and clarifications. 
Specifically, this revision removes the previous SDOE guidance from 
this guide and instead endorses, with clarifications, the SDOE criteria 
within IEEE Std 7-4.3.2-2016. This revision also includes additional 
guidance for fault detection and self-diagnostics, if used, in Digital 
Instrumentation and Control systems. In addition, this revision 
endorses Annex D of IEEE Std 7-4.3.2-2016 and clarifies the 
applicability of the control of access guidance for safety-related 
PDDs.
    The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory 
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML22132A293). The staff developed a 
regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing or revising a 
regulatory guide as well as alternative courses of action.
    As noted in the Federal Register on December 9, 2022 (87 FR 75671), 
this document is being published in the ``Proposed Rules'' section of 
the Federal Register to comply with publication requirements under 1 
CFR chapter I.

III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    If finalized, the NRC staff may use this DG as a reference in its 
regulatory processes, such as licensing, inspection, or enforcement. 
However, the NRC staff does not intend to use the guidance in this DG 
to support NRC staff actions in a manner that would constitute 
backfitting as that term is defined in Section 50.109 of title 10 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Backfitting,'' and as 
described in NRC Management Directive (MD) 8.4, ``Management of 
Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue Finality, and Information 
Requests,'' nor does the NRC staff intend to use the guidance to affect 
the issue finality of an approval under 10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses, 
Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.'' The staff 
also does not intend to use the guidance to support NRC staff actions 
in a manner that constitutes forward fitting as that term is defined 
and described in MD 8.4. If a licensee believes that the NRC is using 
this regulatory guide in a manner inconsistent with the discussion in 
this Implementation section, then the licensee may file a backfitting 
or forward fitting appeal with the NRC in accordance with the process 
in Management Directive 8.4.

IV. Submitting Suggestions for Improvement of Regulatory Guides

    A member of the public may, at any time, submit suggestions to the 
NRC for improvement of existing RGs or for the development of new RGs. 
Suggestions can be submitted on the NRC's public website at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/reg-guides/contactus.html. 
Suggestions will be considered in future updates and enhancements to 
the ``Regulatory Guide'' series.

    Dated: March 3, 2023.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Meraj Rahimi,
Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs Management Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2023-04805 Filed 3-9-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P