Document: NUREG-0800
Document ID: fea61ff0-f344-4101-adfb-590e3d9dfafe
Document Type: srp
Title: Draft Revision 6 – August 2015
Source: NUREG-0800
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1515/ML15159A946.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 7
Section ID: 7
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ropriately evaluated to confirm that required characteristics are met. EPRI Topical Report TR-106439, “Guideline on Evaluation and Acceptance of Commercial Grade Digital Equipment for Nuclear Safety Applications,” as approved by NRC’s safety evaluation dated July 17, 1997, describes an acceptable method for performing this evaluation. NUREG/CR-6421, “A Proposed Acceptance Process for Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Software in Reactor Applications,” provides additional background information. The guidelines of this BTP may be used as appropriate in assessing the software engineering processes used to develop commercial software. See the discussion of the commercial dedication of pre-developed software (PDS) in SRP Appendix 7.0-A. Conformance to a RG can be partial or complete (unqualified). For example, “format conformance” for a plan would mean that the plan would be in the format specified. “Content conformance” means that all guidance is carried out as defined, but not necessarily presented in the format specified. Complete conformance to a RG (i.e., acceptable methods) only requires the reviewer to determine if conformance is achieved and that the system is safe. For partial or qualified conformance, the reviewer should determine the type of conformance, if the conformance is acceptable, if conformance was achieved, and finally if the system is safe. For example, an ambiguous claim like “the software life cycle processes were developed consistent with RG 1.173,” does not actually identify which parts of the guidance in the RG were followed, and therefore the acceptability of the process is not clear. In order to determine the level of conformance, the reviewer should ask, in a request for additional information (RAI), BTP 7.14-11 Draft Revision 6 - August 2015 that each guidance followed be identified. Once the RAI is answered, then the reviewer can determine the acceptability of the defined process, and proceed with the review. The