[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 53 (Friday, March 18, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15456-15457]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-05712]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2022-0039]
Dedication of Commercial-Grade Digital Instrumentation and
Control Items for Use in Nuclear Power Plants
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-1402, ``Dedication of
Commercial-Grade Digital Instrumentation and Control Items for Use in
Nuclear Power Plants.'' This DG is a proposed new regulatory guide for
the dedication of commercial-grade digital instrumentation and control
(I&C) items for use in nuclear power plant safety applications.
DATES: Submit comments by April 18, 2022. 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-2022-0039. 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 Dinesh Taneja, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-0011, email: [email protected]. Both
are staff members 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 2022-0039 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 2022-0039.
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
8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (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 2022-0039 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 ``Dedication of Commercial-Grade Digital
Instrumentation and Control Items for Use in Nuclear Power Plants,'' is
temporarily identified by its task number, DG-1402 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML22003A180).
The staff is also issuing for public comment a draft regulatory
analysis (ADAMS Accession No. ML22003A181) for DG-1402. The staff
developed the regulatory analysis to assess the value of issuing DG-
1402 as well as alternative courses of action.
The draft guide is a proposed new regulatory guide for the
dedication of commercial-grade digital I&C items for use in nuclear
power plant safety applications. It endorses, with clarifications,
Nuclear Energy Institute 17-06, ``Guidance on Using IEC 61508 SIL
Certification to Support the Acceptance of Commercial Grade Digital
[[Page 15457]]
Equipment for Nuclear Safety Related Applications,'' Revision 1, issued
December 2021 (ADAMS Accession No. ML21337A380), to supplement existing
guidance.
III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality
The NRC staff may use this regulatory guide 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
regulatory guide 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. 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
MD 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.htm.
Suggestions will be considered in future updates and enhancements to
the ``Regulatory Guide'' series.
Dated: March 14, 2022.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Meraj Rahimi,
Chief, Regulatory Guide and Programs, Management Branch, Division of
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2022-05712 Filed 3-17-22; 8:45 am]
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