Incorporation by Reference of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standard 603-2018

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION <CFR>10 CFR Part 50</CFR> <DEPDOC>[NRC-2024-0045]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 3150-AL06</RIN> <SUBJECT>Incorporation by Reference of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standard 603-2018</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Nuclear Regulatory Commission. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Proposed rule and draft guidance; request for comment. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its regulations to incorporate by reference the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standard (Std) 603-2018, “IEEE Standard Criteria for Safety Systems for Nuclear Power Generating Stations.” The IEEE Std 603-2018 is the most recent version of IEEE Std 603 that addresses the power, instrumentation, and control safety systems for nuclear power reactors. This amendment also incorporates editorial changes that do not change the technical information. The NRC plans to hold a public meeting to promote full understanding of the proposed rule and facilitate public comments. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Submit comments by February 17, 2026. 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 before this date. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> You may submit comments by any of the following methods; however, the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the Federal rulemaking website: • <E T="03">Federal Rulemaking Website:</E> Go to <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> and search for Docket ID NRC-2024-0045. Address questions about NRC dockets to Helen Chang; telephone: 301-415-3228; email: <E T="03">Helen.Chang@nrc.gov.</E> For technical questions contact the individuals listed in the <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section of this document. • <E T="03">Email comments to:</E> <E T="03">Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov.</E> If you do not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact us at 301-415-1677. • <E T="03">Fax comments to:</E> Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 301-415-1101. • <E T="03">Mail comments to:</E> Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. • <E T="03">Hand deliver comments to:</E> 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. eastern time, Federal workdays; telephone: 301-415-1677. You can read a plain language description of this proposed rule at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov/docket/NRC-2024-0045.</E> For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting comments, see “Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments” in the <E T="02">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION</E> section of this document. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Denise Edwards, Office of Nuclear Material and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-7204, email: <E T="03">Denise.Edwards@nrc.gov,</E> and Gilberto Blas Rodriguez, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-287-9260, email: <E T="03">Gilberto.BlasRodriguez@nrc.gov.</E> Both are staff of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> This rulemaking is separate from NRC's comprehensive review and reform of its regulations in accordance with Executive Order (E.O.) 14300, “Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission” (90 FR 22587; May 29, 2025). The rulemakings associated with that effort will comprehensively reexamine NRC requirements. While there could be additional revisions as a result of these future rulemakings, the NRC is moving forward with publication of this proposed rule at this time because it is an action of high interest for stakeholders that was in progress before the issuance of E.O. 14300. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Executive Summary</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Need for Regulatory Action</HD> The IEEE periodically revises and updates its codes for nuclear power plants by issuing new editions; this proposed rule is in accordance with the NRC's practice to incorporate new editions into the NRC's regulations. This proposed rule allows nuclear power plant applicants to take advantage of the latest IEEE Std, enhancing efficiency for applicants and the NRC without affecting safety. The NRC's use of the IEEE Std is consistent with applicable requirements of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA). See also Section XII of this document, “Voluntary Consensus Standards.” <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. Major Provision</HD> The primary effect of this proposed rule is the incorporation by reference of IEEE Std 603-2018 into title 10 of the <E T="03">Code of Federal Regulations</E> (10 CFR) 50.55a, “Codes and standards,” and to provide for its use for nuclear power reactors of all types. This proposed rule also includes a conforming amendment to paragraph (b)(1)(v) of section 50.69, “Risk-informed categorization and treatment of structures, systems and components for nuclear power reactors,” of 10 CFR, which would extend that provision to allow risk-informed alternatives to Clauses 5.3 and 5.4 of IEEE 603-2018 for certain systems, structure, and components. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Obtaining Information</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Submitting Comments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Discussion</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. IEEE 603-2018</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Discussion of Clause 5.16 Regarding CCF and Existing Commission Policy</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Protection Systems and Safety Systems</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Section-by-Section Analysis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Regulatory Flexibility Certification</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. Regulatory Analysis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VII. Backfitting and Issue Finality</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VIII. Plain Writing</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IX. Environmental Assessment and Proposed Finding of No Significant Environmental Impact</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">X. Paperwork Reduction Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">XI. Executive Orders</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review (as Amended by Executive Order 14215, Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Executive Order 14154: Unleashing American Energy</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Executive Order 14192: Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2"> D. Executive Order 14270: Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting To Unleash American Energy </FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">XII. Voluntary Consensus Standards</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">XIII. Incorporation by Reference—Reasonable Availability to Interested Parties</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">XIV. Availability of Guidance</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">XV. Public Meeting</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">XVI. Availability of Documents</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Obtaining Information</HD> Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0045 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain publicly available information related to this action by any of the following methods: • <E T="03">Federal Rulemaking Website:</E> Go to <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> and search for Docket ID NRC-2024-0045. • <E T="03">NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS):</E> You may obtain publicly available documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection at <E T="03">https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.</E> To begin the search, select “Begin 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 <E T="03">PDR.Resource@nrc.gov.</E> For the convenience of the reader, instructions about obtaining materials referenced in this document are provided in the “Availability of Documents” section. • <E T="03">NRC's PDR:</E> 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 <E T="03">PDR.Resource@nrc.gov</E> or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. eastern time, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. • <E T="03">Technical Library:</E> The Technical Library, which is located at Two White Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, is open by appointment only. Interested parties may make appointments to examine documents by contacting the NRC Technical Library by email at <E T="03">Library.Resource@nrc.gov</E> between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., eastern time, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. Submitting Comments</HD> The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the Federal rulemaking website ( <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> ). Please include Docket ID NRC-2024-0045 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 <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> 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 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 50k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━