Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: 12dd3f35-6baa-4f6a-8372-84c90ef96a91
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: Test Documentation for Digital Computer Software Used in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants + HISTORY - HISTORY 08/2012 – DG-1207 , Proposed Revision 1 08/1996 – DG-1056 , Proposed Revision 0 (Rev. 1)
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 1
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0833/ML083370243.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-1.170
CFR Part: 
CFR Title: 

Content:
w Act and has verified this determination with OMB. B. DISCUSSION Background The use of industry consensus standards, such as IEEE standards, is part of an overall approach to meet the requirements of 10 CFR Part 50 when developing safety systems for nuclear power plants. Compliance with these standards does not guarantee that regulatory requirements will be met. However, compliance does ensure that practices accepted within various technical communities will be incorporated into the development and quality assurance processes used to design safety systems. These practices are 1 The term “safety systems” is synonymous with “safety-related systems.” The scope of the GDC includes systems, structures, and components “important to safety.” However, the scope of this regulatory guide is limited to “safety systems,” which are a subset of “systems important to safety.” DG-1207, Page 3 based on experience and represent industry consensus on approaches used for the development of such systems. This regulatory guide refers to software incorporated into the instrumentation and control systems covered by Appendix B to 10 CFR Part 50 as “safety system software.” For safety system software, software testing is an important part of the effort to comply with NRC requirements. Software engineering practices rely, in part, on software testing to meet general quality and reliability requirements consistent with GDC 1 and 21 of Appendix A to 10 CFR Part 50, as well as Criteria I, II, III, V, VI, XI, and XVII of Appendix B. Several criteria in Appendix B to 10 CFR Part 50 contains requirements closely related to the activities of verification and testing. These listed Criterions are only part of and not the entire requirement: • Criterion I, “Organization,” requires, in part, the establishment and execution of a quality assurance program. • Criterion II, “Quality Assurance Program,” requires, in part, that the quality assurance program account for the