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Interim Staff Guidance (ISG)

In January 2007, the NRC formed a digital instrumentation and controls (I&C) steering committee to provide management focus on the NRC regulatory activities in progress across several offices, to interface with the industry on key issues, and to facilitate consistent approaches to resolving technical and regulatory challenges. The steering committee has formed the following six task working groups (TWGs) that focus on key areas of concern:

Cyber Security
Diversity and Defense-in-Depth
Risk-Informed Digital I&C
Highly-Integrated Control Room - Communications
Highly-Integrated Control Room - Human Factors
Licensing Process Issues

The TWGs consist of various staff members of NRR, NRO, RES, NSIR, and NMSS. Each TWG is responsible for developing a specific project plan to address the key area of concern. Essentially the plans are to identify and resolve technical issues that will result in more efficient licensing of digital I&C systems for new reactor applications and for retrofits at operating reactors/facilities. The Digital I&C Project Plan defines the problem statements, identifies deliverables, and establishes milestones to resolve the issues. The specific short-term objective of this project plan is to identify digital I&C technical and regulatory issues for which Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) can be developed in time to support the review of the anticipated licensing actions. On August 6, 2007, the NRC issued the Process for Development of Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) in Support of Reviews of Digital I&C Applications. For issue specific ISGs, please see our Interim Staff Guidance Associated with Digital Instrumentation & Controls for more information.

10 CFR Part 50

Document Number	Description
10 CFR 50.55a	Codes and Standards, paragraph (h), Protection and safety systems
10 CFR Part 50, Appendix A	General Design Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants

SECY Papers

Document Number	Description
SECY-91-292	Digital Computer Systems for Advanced Light Water Reactors, September 26, 1991
SECY-93-087	Policy, Technical, and Licensing Issues Pertaining to Evolutionary and Advanced Light-Water Reactor (ALWR) Designs, (Item II Q), April 2, 1993
SRM to SECY-93-087	Policy, Technical, and Licensing Issues Pertaining to Evolutionary and Advanced Light-Water Reactor (ALWR) Designs, (Item II Q)
SECY-01-0155	NRC Research Plan for Digital Instrumentation and Control
SECY-08-0033	Approaches for an Integrated Digital Instrumentation and Control and Human-Machine Interface Test Facility in the United States
SECY-08-0033 Enclosure 1	Answers to Nine Questions from the Staff Requirements Memorandum for COMPBL-07-0001
SECY-08-0033 Enclosure 2	The Hub and Spoke Model
SRM-COMPBL-07-0001	Development of a U.S. Digital Instrumentation and Control and Human-Machine Interface Test Facility

Regulatory Guides

Document Number	Description
RG 1.97, Rev. 4	Criteria For Accident Monitoring Instrumentation For Nuclear Power Plants, June 2006
RG 1.152, Rev. 2	Criteria for Digital Computers in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants, January 2006
RG 1.153, Rev. 1	Criteria for Safety Systems, June 1996
RG 1.168, Rev. 1	Verification, Validation, Reviews, and Audits for Digital Computer Software Used in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants,” February 2004
RG 1.169	Configuration Management Plans for Digital Computer Software Used in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants, September 1997
RG 1.170	Software Test Documentation for Digital Computer Software Used in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants, September 1997
RG 1.171	Software Unit Testing for Digital Computer Software Used in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants, September 1997
RG 1.172	Software Requirements Specifications for Digital Computer Software Used in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants, September 1997
RG 1.173	Developing Software Life Cycle Processes for Digital Computer Software Used in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants, September 1997
RG 1.180, Rev. 1	Guidelines for Evaluating Electromagnetic and Radio-Frequency Interference in Safety-Related Instrumentation and Control Systems, October 2003
RG 1.206	Combined License Applications for Nuclear Power Plants (Draft Issued as DG-1145)
RG 1.209	Guidelines for Environmental Qualification of Safety-Related Computer-Based Instrumentation and Control Systems in Nuclear Power Plants, March 2007

Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants (NUREG-0800)

Document Number

Description

NUREG-0800, Chapter 7

Instrumentation and controls

The Standard Review Plan (SRP) Chapter 7 guidance that addresses digital I&C topics is as follows:

Section 7.0 and Appendix 7.0-A describe the overall review process for digital systems.
Appendix 7.1-A addresses rule changes (10 CFR Part 52, “Early Site Permits; Standard Design Certifications; and Combined Licenses for Nuclear Power Plants,” and revisions to 10 CFR Part 50, “Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities”) and new regulatory guides.
Appendix 7.1-C provides guidance with respect to review according to Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Std. 603-1991 (referenced in 10 CFR 50.55a(h)).
Appendix 7.1-D provides guidance for evaluation of conformance to IEEE Std. 7-4.3.2 as endorsed by Revision 2 of Regulatory Guide 1.152, “Criteria for Digital Computers in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants.”
Sections 7.2 through 7.9 focus on systems that include references to digital system guidance in Section 7.1.
Appendix 7-A includes the following Branch Technical Positions (BTP) that address digital system issues:
- BTP-14, “Guidance on Software Reviews for Digital I&C”
- BTP-16, “Guidance on the Level of Detail Required for Design Certification Applications under 10 CFR Part 52”
- BTP-17, “Guidance on Self-Test and Surveillance Testing”
- BTP-18, “Guidance on Use of Programmable Logic Controllers”
- BTP-19, “Guidance on Evaluation of Defense-in-Depth and Diversity (D3) of Digital I&C”
- BTP-21, “Guidance on Digital Computer Real-Time Performance”

Safety Evaluation

Date	Description
09/28/2004	Final Safety Evaluation for Topical Report WCAP-16096-NP-A, Revision 1, “Software Program Manual for Common Q Systems”
02/24/2003	Acceptance of the Changes to Topical Report CENPD-396-P, Revision 01, “Common Qualified Platform,” and Closeout of Category 2 Open Items
12/11/2001	Review of Triconex Corporation Topical Reports 7286-545, “Qualification Summary Report,” and 7286-546, Revision 1, “Amendment 1 to Qualification Summary Report”
06/22/2001	Safety Evaluation for the Closeout of Several of the Common Qualified Platform Category 1 Open Items Related to Reports CENPD-396-P, Revision 1, and CE-CES-195, Revision 1
08/11/2000	Acceptance for Referencing of Topical Report CENPD-396-P, Revision 01, “Common Qualified Platform,” and Revision 01, Appendices 1, 2, 3, and 4
05/05/2000	Siemens letter, Topical Report EMF-2110 [NP] Revision 1, Teleperm XS: A Digital Protection System