ML20287A405
| ML20287A405 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 12/15/2020 |
| From: | Clay Johnson NRC/OCFO |
| To: | Vaughn S Nuclear Energy Institute |
| smh | |
| References | |
| Download: ML20287A405 (5) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 Stephen J. Vaughn Senior Project Manager Engineering and Risk Nuclear Energy Institute 1201 F Street NW, Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20004
Dear Mr. Vaughn:
On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your letter dated October 6, 2020 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS)
Accession No. ML20281A261), requesting a fee exemption under Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 170.11(a)(1)(ii) for NRC review and endorsement of Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 20-07, Guidance for Addressing Software Common Cause Failure in High Safety-significant Safety-related DI&C Systems.
The NRC has established regulations for granting fee exemptions under 10 CFR 170.11, Exemptions. An interested person may apply for an exemption under 10 CFR 170.11 in accordance with 10 CFR 170.5, Communications. The NRC staff reviewed your request based on the following regulations, 10 CFR 170.11(a)(1)(ii) and 10 CFR 170.11(a)(13):
10 CFR 170.11(a) No application fees, license fees, renewal fees, inspection fees, or special project fees shall be required for: (1) A special project that is a request/report submitted to the NRC... (ii) When the NRC, at the time the request/report is submitted, plans to use the information in response to an NRC request from the Office Director level or above to resolve an identified safety, safeguards, or environmental issue, or to assist the NRC in generic regulatory improvements or efforts (e.g., rules, regulatory guides, regulations, policy statements, generic letters, or bulletins).
10 CFR 170.11(a)(13) All fee exemption requests must be submitted in writing to the Chief Financial Officer in accordance with § 170.5,1 and the Chief Financial Officer will grant or deny such requests in writing.
Common cause failure (CCF) in digital instrumentation and control (DI&C) presents potential safety concerns and technical challenges with regard to modernizing the nations commercial nuclear fleet with digital technology.
1 10 CFR 170.5 provides that All communications concerning the regulations in this part should be addressed to the NRC's Chief Financial Officer, either by mail to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; by hand delivery to the NRC's offices at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland; or, where practicable, by electronic submission, for example, via Electronic Information Exchange, or CD-ROM.
The development of guidance to address CCF in DI&C systems is a significant regulatory effort in response to the modernization efforts in the nuclear industry. Branch Technical Position (BTP) 7-19, Revision 8, when issued in final form, will provide guidance to the NRC staff for reviewing a licensees evaluation of a DI&C systems vulnerability to CCF due to latent design defects in active hardware components, software, or software-based logic and the measures implemented to limit, mitigate, or withstand or cope with the effects of the CCF. The NRC staff included Section 3.1.3 in the proposed draft BTP 7-19, Revision 8, to provide guidance related to new, alternative methods to eliminate CCF from further consideration in digital systems. The staff currently expects to issue Revision 8 to BTP 7-19 in final form by March 2021.
NEI indicates in the draft NEI 20-07 that this proposed guidance was constructed to fit within the defense-in-depth and diversity (D3) assessment framework as described in the proposed draft BTP 7-19, Revision 8. NEI 20-07 is intended to provide applicants with a new process to address CCF in digital systems. Specifically, the draft NEI 20-07 describes a method that could potentially be used to eliminate CCF from further consideration, consistent with Section 3.1.3 of the proposed draft Revision 8 to BTP 7-19, in high safety-significant systems.
I am partially granting your fee exemption request specifically for the NRCs pre-submittal activities associated with NEI 20-07 (i.e., NRC activities associated with review of the draft NEI 20-07 and pre-submittal engagements before NEI 20-07 is finalized) because the NRC staff currently plans to use information from these activities to assist the NRC in generic regulatory improvements or efforts and thus these activities satisfy the requirements stated in 10 CFR 170.11(a)(1)(ii) for a fee exemption. As such, the NRC may use information from these activities in developing regulatory guidance infrastructure for addressing CCF, including but not limited to the potential consideration of alternative methods as described in Section 3.1.3 in the proposed draft BTP 7-19, Revision 8. In addition, the NRC staff is currently considering potential improvements to existing regulatory guides (RGs), such as RG 1.152, Criteria for use of Computers in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants, to address generically CCF in digital systems. The fee exemption granted in this letter for pre-submittal activities is limited to a time period not to exceed 12 months from the date of this letter or completion of the pre-submittal activities if sooner. The effort will be evaluated at a six-month interval to determine if the pre-submittal activities should continue.
I am denying the request to grant a fee exemption for an endorsement review of NEI 20-07 at this time because the NRC staff currently cannot make a determination regarding whether it plans to use information from the endorsement review activities to assist the NRC in generic regulatory improvements or efforts. For example, the staff requires additional information on the potential use of NEI 20-07 to assess the overall benefit to future regulatory efficiency. If NEI chooses to submit NEI 20-07 for an endorsement review and would like to request a fee exemption for NRC review activities, NEI may elect to submit a subsequent fee exemption request.
If you have any technical questions regarding this matter, please contact Ms. Tekia Govan at 301-415-6197. Please contact Ms. Jo Jacobs, of my staff, at 301-415-8388 for any fee-related questions.
Sincerely, Cherish K. Johnson Chief Financial Officer Cherish K.
Johnson Digitally signed by Cherish K.
Johnson Date: 2020.12.15 12:39:53
-05'00'
SUBJECT:
LETTER TO STEPHEN VAUGHN RESPONSE TO FEE EXEMPTION NEI 20-07, DATED:
DISTRIBUTION:
KRiner, OCFO NAridi, OCFO RidsNRROd Resource ADAMS: Yes No Initials: JJ SUNSI Review: JJ Publicly Available Non-Publicly Available Sensitive Non-Sensitive ADAMS Accession No: ML20281A263 (pkg); ML20281A261 (incoming);
ML20287A405 (letter)
CFO-20-00220 OFFICE OCFO/DOB/LFPT OCFO/DOB/LFPT NRR/DRO/IRSB NRR/DEX/EICA NAME JJacobs WBlaney TGovan WMorton DATE 10/13/2020 10/13/2020 10/13/2020 10/14/2020 OFFICE NRR/DEX/EICA NRR/DEX/EICB NRR/DEX/D NRR/DEX/EICB NAME JJohnston MWaters EBenner NCarte DATE 10/15/2020 10/15/2020 10/16/2020 12/10/2020 OFFICE OGC OCFO/DOC/LAFBB OCFO/DOC/LAFBB OCFO/DOB/LFPT NAME CMcCann JGibbs-Nicholson (Meghan Blair for)
MBlair ARossi DATE 12/10/2020 12/11/2020 12/11/2020 12/10/2020 OFFICE OCFO/DOB OCFO/DOB DCFO CFO NAME FMiller JShay BFicks CKJohnson DATE 12/11/2020 12/15/2020 12/15/2020 OFFICIAL RECORD ONLY