[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 141 (Tuesday, July 25, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 47754-47755]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-15611]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Parts 50 and 52

[NRC-2022-0143]


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

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Final guide; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing 
Revision 4 to Regulatory Guide (RG), 1.152, ``Criteria for Programmable 
Digital Devices in Safety-Related Systems of Nuclear Power Plants.'' 
This RG describes an approach that is acceptable to the staff of the 
NRC 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: Revision 4 to RG 1.152 is available on July 25, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2022-0143 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     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.
     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: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies 
of publicly available documents, is open by appointment. 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.
    Revision 4 to RG 1.152 and the regulatory analysis may be found in 
ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML23054A463 and ML22132A293, respectively.
    Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 
required to reproduce them.

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. Discussion

    The NRC is issuing a revision 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 proposed Revision 4 to RG 1.152 was issued with a temporary 
identification of Draft Regulatory Guide, (DG)-1374 (ADAMS Accession 
No. ML23012A242). This revision (Revision 4) of the guide endorses, 
with some exceptions and clarifications, Institute of Electrical and 
Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standard (Std) 7-4.3.2-2016, ``IEEE 
Standard Criteria for Programmable Digital Devices in Safety Systems of 
Nuclear Power Generating Stations.'' 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 
controls 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.

II. Additional Information

    The NRC published notice of the availability of DG-1374 in the 
Federal Register on March 10, 2023 (88 FR 14957), for a 30-day public 
comment period. The public comment period closed on April 10, 2023. 
Public comments on DG-1374 and the staff responses to the public 
comments are available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML23132A164.
    As noted in the Federal Register on December 9, 2022 (87 FR 75671), 
this document is being published in the ``Rules'' section of the 
Federal Register to comply with publication requirements under 1 CFR 
chapter I.

III. Congressional Review Act

    This RG is a rule as defined in the Congressional Review Act (5 
U.S.C. 801-808). However, the Office of

[[Page 47755]]

Management and Budget has not found it to be a major rule as defined in 
the Congressional Review Act.

IV. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    Issuance of RG 1.152, Revision 4, does not constitute backfitting 
as defined in Sec.  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''; affect the issue 
finality of an approval issued under 10 CFR part 52; or constitute 
forward fitting as defined in MD 8.4 because, as explained in this RG, 
licensees are not required to comply with the positions set forth in 
this RG.

V. 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: July 19, 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. 2023-15611 Filed 7-24-23; 8:45 am]
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