Proposed Revision to Standard Review Plan Branch Technical Position 7-19, Guidance for Evaluation of Defense In Depth and Diversity To Address Common-Cause Failure Due to Latent Design Defects in Digital Safety Systems, 73051-73053 [2023-23426]

Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 24, 2023 / Notices identifiable information (PII). NSF routinely reviews PII in IT systems in addition to monitoring technical, physical, and administrative controls in place to assure that PII is appropriately protected. NSF’s major applications and general support systems are assessed and authorized by NSF’s continuous monitoring and ongoing authorization program. The authorization process requires a thorough security and privacy control review. All NSF systems are covered by a system security plan, and major applications and general support systems are authorized to operate. Applications and devices hosted on the NSF network are subjected to extensive vulnerability scanning and compliance checking against standard security configurations. Robust virus protection capabilities, anti-malware, and network intrusion detection and prevention devices provide 24/7 protection against external threats. NSF’s strong access controls ensure that resources are made available only to authorized users, programs, processes or systems by reference to rules of access that are defined by attributes and policies. NSF uses the capabilities of a Trusted internet Connections (TIC) compliant provider for routing agency network traffic and uses the federally provided intrusion detection system (IDS), including advanced continuous monitoring and risk management analysis. NSF has a well-established computer security incident response program. NSF’s incident response procedures include a strong digital forensics capability to investigate and review data and identify relevant evidence and malicious activity. Follow the procedures found at 45 CFR part 613 (NSF Privacy Act Regulations). NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES: See 45 CFR part 613. ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1 BILLING CODE 7533–01–P Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Standard review plan-draft branch technical position revision; request for comment. None. HISTORY: None. Dated: October 18, 2023. Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation. Jkt 262001 [FR Doc. 2023–23535 Filed 10–20–23; 11:15 am] AGENCY: EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM: 18:34 Oct 23, 2023 Dated: October 20, 2023. Candi R. Bing, Federal Register Liaison Officer. Proposed Revision to Standard Review Plan Branch Technical Position 7–19, Guidance for Evaluation of Defense In Depth and Diversity To Address Common-Cause Failure Due to Latent Design Defects in Digital Safety Systems Follow the procedures found at 45 CFR part 613. VerDate Sep<11>2014 9:30 a.m. EDT, November 14, 2023. PLACE: Virtual. STATUS: The one item may be viewed by the public through webcast only. MATTER TO BE CONSIDERED: 69859 Highway Investigative Report— Multivehicle Crash at Signalized Intersection, North Las Vegas, Nevada, January 29, 2022 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Candi Bing at (202) 590–8384 or by email at bingc@ntsb.gov. Media Information Contact: Sarah Sulick by email at sarah.sulick@ntsb.gov or at (202) 314–6100. This meeting will take place virtually. The public may view it through a live or archived webcast by accessing a link under ‘‘Upcoming Events’’ on the NTSB home page at www.ntsb.gov. There may be changes to this event due to the evolving situation concerning the novel coronavirus (COVID–19). Schedule updates, including weatherrelated cancellations, are also available at www.ntsb.gov. The National Transportation Safety Board is holding this meeting under the Government in the Sunshine Act, 5 U.S.C. 552(b). TIME AND DATE: [NRC–2023–0181] CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES: BILLING CODE 7555–01–P Sunshine Act Meeting NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES: [FR Doc. 2023–23487 Filed 10–23–23; 8:45 am] NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting public comment on draft NUREG–0800, ‘‘Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR Edition,’’ Branch SUMMARY: PO 00000 Frm 00065 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 73051 Technical Position (BTP) 7–19, Revision 9, ‘‘Guidance for Evaluation of Defense In Depth and Diversity To Address Common-Cause Failure Due to Latent Design Defects in Digital Safety Systems.’’ The NRC seeks comments on the proposed draft BTP 7–19 revision of the Standard Review Plan (SRP) that provides the NRC staff with guidance for evaluating an applicant’s assessment of the adequacy of defense in depth and diversity (D3) for a proposed digital instrumentation and control (DI&C) system. Submit comments by November 24, 2023. Comments received after this date will be considered, if it is practical to do so, but the Commission 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–2023–0181. Address questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; telephone: 301–415–0624; email: Stacy.Schumann@nrc.gov. 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: Ekaterina Lenning, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301– 415–3151, email: Ekaterina.Lenning@ nrc.gov, Brent Ballard, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301– 415–0680, email: Brent.Ballard@nrc.gov, and Carla Roque-Cruz, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301– 415–1455, email: Carla.Roque-Cruz@ nrc.gov. All are staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: DATES: I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments A. Obtaining Information Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2023– 0181 when contacting the NRC about E:\FR\FM\24OCN1.SGM 24OCN1 73052 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 24, 2023 / Notices ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1 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–2023–0181. • 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, at 301–415–4737, or by email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. The draft BTP 7–19, Revision 9, ‘‘Guidance for Evaluation of Defense In Depth and Diversity to Address Common-Cause Failure Due to Latent Design Defects in Digital Safety Systems’’ is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML23222A237. • 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 PDR.Resource@nrc.gov 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–2023–0181 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. VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:08 Oct 23, 2023 Jkt 262001 II. Discussion The NRC seeks public comment on the draft BTP 7–19 Revision 9, ‘‘Guidance for Evaluation of Defense In Depth and Diversity to Address Common-Cause Failure Due to Latent Design Defects in Digital Safety Systems.’’ This draft revision BTP 7–19, provides the NRC staff with guidance for evaluating an applicant’s assessment of the adequacy of D3 for a proposed DI&C system. The applicant performs this D3 assessment to identify and address potential common-cause failures (CCFs) in a proposed DI&C system and to evaluate the effects of any unprevented CCFs on plant safety. The purpose of this proposed update is to implement the expanded policy in SRM–SECY–22–0076, ‘‘Expansion of Current Policy on Potential CommonCause Failures in Digital Instrumentation and Control Systems,’’ (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML23145A181 and ML23145A182) for addressing DI&C CCFs. The proposed update provides guidance for the review of risk-informed D3 assessments, in addition to the existing guidance for assessments based on best-estimate methods. The proposed update also provides review guidance for design techniques or mitigating measures, other than diversity, to address the effects of a DI&C CCF. Following NRC staff evaluation of public comments, the NRC intends to finalize BTP 7–19, Revision 9 in ADAMS and post it on the NRC’s public website at https://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr0800. The SRP is guidance for the NRC staff. The SRP is not a substitute for the NRC regulations, and compliance with the SRP is not required. III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality The guidance in this draft SRP is updated to implement the Commission’s policies in SRM–SECY–22–0076 for review of applicant assessments of defense in depth and diversity to prevent or mitigate common-cause failure of digital instrumentation and control systems used in light-water nuclear power reactors. Issuance of this draft SRP, if finalized, would not constitute backfitting as defined in section 50.109 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ‘‘Backfitting’’ (the Backfit Rule), and as described in NRC Management Directive (MD) 8.4, ‘‘Management of Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue Finality, and Information Requests’’; would not affect the issue finality of an approval under 10 CFR part 52; and would not constitute forward fitting as that term is PO 00000 Frm 00066 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 defined and described in MD 8.4. The NRC staff’s position is based upon the following considerations. 1. The draft SRP positions, if finalized, would not constitute backfitting or forward fitting or affect issue finality, inasmuch as the SRP would be internal guidance to the NRC staff. The SRP provides guidance to the NRC staff on how to review an application for NRC regulatory approval in the form of licensing. Changes in internal staff guidance, without further NRC action, are not matters that meet the definition of backfitting or forward fitting or affect the issue finality of a 10 CFR part 52 approval. 2. Current or future applicants are not—with limited exceptions not applicable here—within the scope of the backfitting and issue finality regulations and forward fitting policy. Applicants are not, with certain exceptions, within the scope of the Backfit Rule or any issue finality provisions under 10 CFR part 52. The backfitting and issue finality regulations include language delineating when those provisions begin; in general, they begin after the issuance of a license, permit, or other approval. Furthermore, neither the Backfit Rule nor the issue finality provisions under 10 CFR part 52—with certain exclusions discussed further in this notice—were intended to apply to NRC actions that substantially change the expectations of current and future applicants. The exceptions to the general principle are applicable when an applicant references a 10 CFR part 52 license (e.g., an early site permit) and/ or NRC regulatory approval (e.g., a design certification rule) with specified issue finality provisions or a construction permit under 10 CFR part 50. The NRC staff does not, at this time, intend to impose the positions represented in the draft SRP (if finalized) in a manner that would constitute backfitting or affect the issue finality of a 10 CFR part 52 approval. If, in the future, the staff seeks to impose a position in the draft SRP (if finalized) in a manner that constitutes backfitting or affects the issue finality of a 10 CFR part 52 approval, then the staff would need to address the Backfit Rule, or the criteria described in the applicable issue finality provision. The Commission’s forward fitting policy generally does not apply when an applicant files an initial licensing action for a new facility. Nevertheless, the NRC staff does not, at this time, intend to impose the positions represented in the draft SRP (if finalized) in a manner that would constitute forward fitting. If, in E:\FR\FM\24OCN1.SGM 24OCN1 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 24, 2023 / Notices the future, the staff seeks to impose a position in the draft SRP (if finalized) in a manner that constitutes forward fitting, then the staff would need to address the forward fitting criteria in MD 8.4. Dated: October 19, 2023. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Gerond A. George, Chief, Licensing Project Branch, Division of Operating Reactors, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. Office of Personnel Management. Kayyonne Marston, Federal Register Liaison. [FR Doc. 2023–23441 Filed 10–23–23; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6325–45–P POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket Nos. MC2024–16 and CP2024–16; MC2024–17 and CP2024–17; MC2024–18 and CP2024–18; MC2024–19 and CP2024– 19; MC2024–20 and CP2024–20] [FR Doc. 2023–23426 Filed 10–23–23; 8:45 am] New Postal Products BILLING CODE 7590–01–P Postal Regulatory Commission. Notice. AGENCY: ACTION: OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT Senior Executive Service-Performance Review Board Office of Personnel Management. ACTION: Notice. AGENCY: Notice is hereby given of the appointment of members of the OPM Performance Review Board. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kimberly Sylke, OPM Human Resources, Office of Personnel Management, 1900 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20415, (202) 606–1048. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 4314(c) (1) through (5) of title 5, U.S.C., requires each agency to establish, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Office of Personnel Management, one or more SES performance review boards. The board reviews and evaluates the initial appraisal of a senior executive’s performance by the supervisor and considers recommendations to the appointing authority regarding the performance of the senior executive. The following have been designated as members of the Fiscal Year 2023 Performance Review Board of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Robert Shriver, Deputy Director, Chair Laurie Bodenheimer, Associate Director, Healthcare and Insurance Carmen Garcia, Chief Human Capital Officer Veronica Hinton, Associate Director, Workforce Policy and Innovation Jane Lee, Senior Advisor to the Director Lisa Loss, Director, Suitability Executive Agent Programs Webb Lyons, General Counsel Kathryn Malague, Chief Management Officer Margaret Pearson, Associate Director, Retirement Services Alethea Predeoux, Chief of Staff ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1 SUMMARY: VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:08 Oct 23, 2023 The Commission is noticing a recent Postal Service filing for the Commission’s consideration concerning a negotiated service agreement. This notice informs the public of the filing, invites public comment, and takes other administrative steps. DATES: Comments are due: October 26, 2023. ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically via the Commission’s Filing Online system at https:// www.prc.gov. Those who cannot submit comments electronically should contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section by telephone for advice on filing alternatives. SUMMARY: Jkt 262001 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David A. Trissell, General Counsel, at 202–789–6820. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Docketed Proceeding(s) I. Introduction The Commission gives notice that the Postal Service filed request(s) for the Commission to consider matters related to negotiated service agreement(s). The request(s) may propose the addition or removal of a negotiated service agreement from the Market Dominant or the Competitive product list, or the modification of an existing product currently appearing on the Market Dominant or the Competitive product list. Section II identifies the docket number(s) associated with each Postal Service request, the title of each Postal Service request, the request’s acceptance date, and the authority cited by the Postal Service for each request. For each request, the Commission appoints an officer of the Commission to represent the interests of the general public in the proceeding, pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505 PO 00000 Frm 00067 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 73053 (Public Representative). Section II also establishes comment deadline(s) pertaining to each request. The public portions of the Postal Service’s request(s) can be accessed via the Commission’s website (https:// www.prc.gov). Non-public portions of the Postal Service’s request(s), if any, can be accessed through compliance with the requirements of 39 CFR 3011.301.1 The Commission invites comments on whether the Postal Service’s request(s) in the captioned docket(s) are consistent with the policies of title 39. For request(s) that the Postal Service states concern Market Dominant product(s), applicable statutory and regulatory requirements include 39 U.S.C. 3622, 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR part 3030, and 39 CFR part 3040, subpart B. For request(s) that the Postal Service states concern Competitive product(s), applicable statutory and regulatory requirements include 39 U.S.C. 3632, 39 U.S.C. 3633, 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR part 3035, and 39 CFR part 3040, subpart B. Comment deadline(s) for each request appear in section II. II. Docketed Proceeding(s) 1. Docket No(s).: MC2024–16 and CP2024–16; Filing Title: USPS Request to Add Priority Mail & USPS Ground Advantage Contract 76 to Competitive Product List and Notice of Filing Materials Under Seal; Filing Acceptance Date: October 18, 2023; Filing Authority: 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR 3040.130 through 3040.135, and 39 CFR 3035.105; Public Representative: Kenneth R. Moeller; Comments Due: October 26, 2023. 2. Docket No(s).: MC2024–17 and CP2024–17; Filing Title: USPS Request to Add Priority Mail & USPS Ground Advantage Contract 77 to Competitive Product List and Notice of Filing Materials Under Seal; Filing Acceptance Date: October 18, 2023; Filing Authority: 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR 3040.130 through 3040.135, and 39 CFR 3035.105; Public Representative: Kenneth R. Moeller; Comments Due: October 26, 2023. 3. Docket No(s).: MC2024–18 and CP2024–18; Filing Title: USPS Request to Add Priority Mail & USPS Ground Advantage Contract 78 to Competitive Product List and Notice of Filing Materials Under Seal; Filing Acceptance Date: October 18, 2023; Filing Authority: 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR 3040.130 through 3040.135, and 39 CFR 3035.105; 1 See Docket No. RM2018–3, Order Adopting Final Rules Relating to Non-Public Information, June 27, 2018, Attachment A at 19–22 (Order No. 4679). E:\FR\FM\24OCN1.SGM 24OCN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 204 (Tuesday, October 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73051-73053]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23426]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2023-0181]


Proposed Revision to Standard Review Plan Branch Technical 
Position 7-19, Guidance for Evaluation of Defense In Depth and 
Diversity To Address Common-Cause Failure Due to Latent Design Defects 
in Digital Safety Systems

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Standard review plan-draft branch technical position revision; 
request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting 
public comment on draft NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan for the 
Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants: LWR 
Edition,'' Branch Technical Position (BTP) 7-19, Revision 9, ``Guidance 
for Evaluation of Defense In Depth and Diversity To Address Common-
Cause Failure Due to Latent Design Defects in Digital Safety Systems.'' 
The NRC seeks comments on the proposed draft BTP 7-19 revision of the 
Standard Review Plan (SRP) that provides the NRC staff with guidance 
for evaluating an applicant's assessment of the adequacy of defense in 
depth and diversity (D3) for a proposed digital instrumentation and 
control (DI&C) system.

DATES: Submit comments by November 24, 2023. Comments received after 
this date will be considered, if it is practical to do so, but the 
Commission 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-2023-0181. 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: Ekaterina Lenning, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-3151, email: 
[email protected], Brent Ballard, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-0680, email: [email protected], and 
Carla Roque-Cruz, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-
415-1455, email: [email protected]. All 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-2023-0181 when contacting the NRC 
about

[[Page 73052]]

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-2023-0181.
     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, at 301-415-4737, 
or by email to [email protected]. The draft BTP 7-19, Revision 9, 
``Guidance for Evaluation of Defense In Depth and Diversity to Address 
Common-Cause Failure Due to Latent Design Defects in Digital Safety 
Systems'' is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML23222A237.
     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.

B. Submitting Comments

    The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the 
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please 
include Docket ID NRC-2023-0181 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. Discussion

    The NRC seeks public comment on the draft BTP 7-19 Revision 9, 
``Guidance for Evaluation of Defense In Depth and Diversity to Address 
Common-Cause Failure Due to Latent Design Defects in Digital Safety 
Systems.'' This draft revision BTP 7-19, provides the NRC staff with 
guidance for evaluating an applicant's assessment of the adequacy of D3 
for a proposed DI&C system. The applicant performs this D3 assessment 
to identify and address potential common-cause failures (CCFs) in a 
proposed DI&C system and to evaluate the effects of any unprevented 
CCFs on plant safety.
    The purpose of this proposed update is to implement the expanded 
policy in SRM-SECY-22-0076, ``Expansion of Current Policy on Potential 
Common-Cause Failures in Digital Instrumentation and Control Systems,'' 
(ADAMS Accession Nos. ML23145A181 and ML23145A182) for addressing DI&C 
CCFs. The proposed update provides guidance for the review of risk-
informed D3 assessments, in addition to the existing guidance for 
assessments based on best-estimate methods. The proposed update also 
provides review guidance for design techniques or mitigating measures, 
other than diversity, to address the effects of a DI&C CCF.
    Following NRC staff evaluation of public comments, the NRC intends 
to finalize BTP 7-19, Revision 9 in ADAMS and post it on the NRC's 
public website at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr0800. The SRP is guidance for the NRC staff. The SRP is 
not a substitute for the NRC regulations, and compliance with the SRP 
is not required.

III. Backfitting, Forward Fitting, and Issue Finality

    The guidance in this draft SRP is updated to implement the 
Commission's policies in SRM-SECY-22-0076 for review of applicant 
assessments of defense in depth and diversity to prevent or mitigate 
common-cause failure of digital instrumentation and control systems 
used in light-water nuclear power reactors. Issuance of this draft SRP, 
if finalized, would not constitute backfitting as defined in section 
50.109 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), 
``Backfitting'' (the Backfit Rule), and as described in NRC Management 
Directive (MD) 8.4, ``Management of Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue 
Finality, and Information Requests''; would not affect the issue 
finality of an approval under 10 CFR part 52; and would not constitute 
forward fitting as that term is defined and described in MD 8.4. The 
NRC staff's position is based upon the following considerations.
    1. The draft SRP positions, if finalized, would not constitute 
backfitting or forward fitting or affect issue finality, inasmuch as 
the SRP would be internal guidance to the NRC staff.
    The SRP provides guidance to the NRC staff on how to review an 
application for NRC regulatory approval in the form of licensing. 
Changes in internal staff guidance, without further NRC action, are not 
matters that meet the definition of backfitting or forward fitting or 
affect the issue finality of a 10 CFR part 52 approval.
    2. Current or future applicants are not--with limited exceptions 
not applicable here--within the scope of the backfitting and issue 
finality regulations and forward fitting policy.
    Applicants are not, with certain exceptions, within the scope of 
the Backfit Rule or any issue finality provisions under 10 CFR part 52. 
The backfitting and issue finality regulations include language 
delineating when those provisions begin; in general, they begin after 
the issuance of a license, permit, or other approval. Furthermore, 
neither the Backfit Rule nor the issue finality provisions under 10 CFR 
part 52--with certain exclusions discussed further in this notice--were 
intended to apply to NRC actions that substantially change the 
expectations of current and future applicants.
    The exceptions to the general principle are applicable when an 
applicant references a 10 CFR part 52 license (e.g., an early site 
permit) and/or NRC regulatory approval (e.g., a design certification 
rule) with specified issue finality provisions or a construction permit 
under 10 CFR part 50. The NRC staff does not, at this time, intend to 
impose the positions represented in the draft SRP (if finalized) in a 
manner that would constitute backfitting or affect the issue finality 
of a 10 CFR part 52 approval. If, in the future, the staff seeks to 
impose a position in the draft SRP (if finalized) in a manner that 
constitutes backfitting or affects the issue finality of a 10 CFR part 
52 approval, then the staff would need to address the Backfit Rule, or 
the criteria described in the applicable issue finality provision.
    The Commission's forward fitting policy generally does not apply 
when an applicant files an initial licensing action for a new facility. 
Nevertheless, the NRC staff does not, at this time, intend to impose 
the positions represented in the draft SRP (if finalized) in a manner 
that would constitute forward fitting. If, in

[[Page 73053]]

the future, the staff seeks to impose a position in the draft SRP (if 
finalized) in a manner that constitutes forward fitting, then the staff 
would need to address the forward fitting criteria in MD 8.4.

    Dated: October 19, 2023.
    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Gerond A. George,
Chief, Licensing Project Branch, Division of Operating Reactors, Office 
of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2023-23426 Filed 10-23-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
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