Rules and Regulations. Final guide; issuance

Agency: Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Action: Final guide; issuance
Citation: FR Doc. 2023-15611 · NRC-2022-0143 · 10 CFR 50, 52

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.

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 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 § 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]