ML24330A244
| ML24330A244 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 03/24/2025 |
| From: | Barwell O NRC/OCFO |
| To: | Andy Campbell Nuclear Energy Institute |
| Shared Package | |
| ML24330A243 | List: |
| References | |
| OCFO-24-00210 NEI 20-07 | |
| Download: ML24330A244 (1) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 Alan Campbell, Technical Advisor Technical and Regulatory Services Nuclear Energy Institute 1201 F Street NW, Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20004
SUBJECT:
RESPONSE TO THE NUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTES FEE EXEMPTION EXTENSION REQUEST FOR PRE-SUBMITTAL ACTIVITIES, REVIEW, AND ENDORSEMENT OF NEI 20-07, GUIDANCE FOR ADDRESSING COMMON CAUSE FAILURE IN HIGH SAFETY-SIGNIFICANT SAFETY-RELATED DIGITAL I&C SYSTEMS, DRAFT REVISION E
Dear Alan Campbell:
On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am responding to your letter dated October 31, 2024 (ADAMS Accession No. ML24307A001, as supplemented on December 13, 2024 (ML24351A017), requesting a fee exemption under Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 170.11(a)(1)(ii) for pre-submittal activities, review, and endorsement of Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 20-07, Guidance for Addressing Common Cause Failure in High Safety-Significant Safety-Related Digital I&C Systems, Draft Revision E (NEI-20-07, Revision E). Previously, in a letter dated October 25, 2023 (ML23219A167), the NRC granted a partial fee exemption specifically for the pre-submittal activities associated with the review of NEI 20-07, Revision E. This partial fee exemption had a one-year duration from the date of that letter and thus expired on October 25, 2024. With respect to your new request, I am granting a fee exemption only for pre-submittal activities and denying the fee exemption request for the detailed review and possible endorsement review. The partial fee exemption for pre-submittal activities is limited to a time period not to exceed 6 months from the date of this letter or completion of pre-submittal activities, if sooner.
The NRC has established regulations for the granting of 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.1 The NRC staff reviewed your request based on the regulations in 10 CFR 170.11(a)(1)(ii) and 10 CFR 170.11(d).
Section 170.11(a)(1)(ii) states:
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, 1 10 CFR 170.5 provides that, All communications concerning the regulations in this part should be addressed to the NRCs Chief Financial Officer, either by mail to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; by hand delivery to the NRCs offices at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland; or, where practicable, by electronic submission, for example, via Electronic Information Exchange, or CD-ROM.
March 24, 2025
A. Campbell plans to use the information to assist the NRC in generic regulatory improvements or efforts (e.g., rules, regulatory guides, regulations, policy statements, generic letters, or bulletins).
Section 170.11(d) states:
All fee exemption requests must be submitted in writing to the Chief Financial Officer in accordance with § 170.5, and the Chief Financial Officer will grant or deny such requests in writing.
In your letter, as supplemented, you request a fee exemption for all activities, including pre-submittal activities, involved in the review of NEI 20-07, Revision E, Guidance for Addressing Common Cause Failure in High Safety-Significant Safety-Related Digital I&C Systems. Your letters provide that NEI 20-07, Revision E is being developed to provide guidance on using a performance-based methodology, based on processes used in other safety-focused industries, to support the design and implementation of highly safety-significant and safety-related DI&C system upgrades. Your letters state that NRC reviews and other efforts conducted in response to NEI 20-07 will result in generic regulatory improvements and optimized allocation of resources in licensing the industrys implementation of highly safety-significant safety-related DI&C systems. In addition, your letters describe some of the pre-submittal activities that NEI and the NRC staff have engaged in thus far as well as NEIs plans to submit future versions of NEI 20-07, Revision E as a non-proprietary report.
The previous October 25, 2023, letter granting a fee exemption for pre-submittal activities agreed that NEI 20-07, Revisions E, if endorsed, may serve to fill a gap in existing NRC regulatory guidance for addressing common cause failure with highly safety-significant DI&C safety systems. Specifically, the proposed NEI document, if endorsed, may represent one way of addressing Clause B.3.1.2 of NUREG-0800, Branch Technical Position 7-19, Guidance for Evaluation of Diversity and Defense-in-Depth in Digital Computer-Based Instrumentation and Control Systems, to eliminate a potential common cause failure from further consideration. To date, there are no NRC-approved risk-informed alternative methods for addressing common cause failure.
Nonetheless, the October 25, 2023, letter denied NEIs previous fee exemption request for the endorsement review because NEI had submitted a heavily redacted version of NEI 20-07, Revision E and that the extensive designations and redactions made the document illegible and unusable for the spectrum of NRC stakeholders and would not serve as a basis for an effective NRC endorsement. While you indicate that NEI plans to submit non-redacted version of NEI 07, Revision E for endorsement review, this non-redacted version has not yet been submitted to the NRC for review.
Accordingly, I am granting, in part, and denying, in part, your fee exemption request. I am granting your fee exemption request only for the pre-submittal activities associated with NEI 20-07, Revision E (including the time period between the expiration date of the previous fee exemption of October 25, 2024, and the date of this letter). Like the October 25, 2023, letter granting NEIs previous fee exemption request for pre-submittal activities, the NRC staff continues to believe that pre-endorsement review activities will assist the NRC with a generic regulatory improvement. The pre-submittal activities have assisted the NRC in considering the overarching effort of addressing common cause failure with highly safety-significant DI&C safety systems, including by making progress toward a potential, risk-informed approach in NEI-20-07,
A. Campbell Revision E that may ultimately be made publicly available and submitted for endorsement review.
I am denying your fee exemption request for the eventual endorsement review of NEI 20-07. To be eligible for the fee exemption in Section 170(a)(1)(ii), the NRC, at the time request/report is submitted, must plan to use the information to assist the agency in a generic regulatory improvement. Given that NEI 20-07, Revision E is still under development and the document has not yet been submitted to NRC for endorsement review, the NRC currently cannot make a determination regarding whether it plans to use information from the endorsement review to assist the NRC in generic regulatory improvements or efforts. While your letters state that NEI plans to submit future non-proprietary versions of NEI 20-07, your letter did not provide sufficient information for the NRC to make a determination, at this time, that such future submission of NEI 20-07, Revision E will support a generic regulatory improvement consistent with 10 CFR 170.11. If NEI ultimately submits NEI 20-07, Revision E for an endorsement review, NEI may elect to submit a fee exemption request for the endorsement review at that time. Consistent with its regulations, the NRC will make an evaluation of a fee exemption request for NRC review of a document at the time such document is submitted to NRC for review.
In public pre-submittal meetings about NEI 20-07, Revision E, NEI stated that the final version would be provided in early 2025, therefore, the fee exemption granted in this letter for pre-submittal activities is limited to a time period not to exceed 6 months from the date of this letter or completion of the pre-submittal activities if sooner.
If you have any technical questions regarding this matter, please contact Michael Marshall at 301-415-2871. Please contact my staff, Billy Blaney at 301-415-5092 for any fee-related questions.
Sincerely, Owen F. Barwell Chief Financial Officer Signed by Barwell, Owen on 03/24/25
A. Campbell
SUBJECT:
RESPONSE TO THE NUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTES FEE EXEMPTION EXTENSION REQUEST FOR PRE-SUBMITTAL ACTIVITIES, REVIEW, AND ENDORSEMENT OF NEI 20-07, GUIDANCE FOR ADDRESSING COMMON CAUSE FAILURE IN HIGH SAFETY-SIGNIFICANT SAFETY-RELATED DIGITAL I&C SYSTEMS, DRAFT REVISION E, MARCH 24, 2025 DISTRIBUTION: OCFO-24-00210 NAridi, OCFO MVelasquez, OCFO MMarshall, NRR RKuntz, NRR DRahn, NRR RidsNrrOd Resource EXTERNAL DISTRIBUTION:
adc@nei.org ADAMS Accession Number: ML24330A243 Package; ML24330A244 Letter OFFICE OCFO/DOB OCFO/DOB NRR/DEX NRR/DEX NAME BBlaney CGalster PKoch FSacko DATE 01/29/25 01/29/25 01/31/25 02/02/25 OFFICE NRR/DORL NRR/DEX NRR/DORL OGC NAME GGeorge TMartinez Navedo ARivera-Varona ELicon*NLO DATE 01/30/25 02/03/25 02/06/25 02/24/25 OFFICE OCFO/DOC OCFO/DOC OCFO/DOB OCFO/DOB NAME RMorton MBlair JAreas LYee DATE 02/28/25 03/03/25 02/28/25 03/06/25 OFFICE OCFO/DOB CFO CFO NAME MNeville CCarroll OBarwell DATE 03/12/25 03/14/25 03/24/25 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY