Abstract: The establishment of nuclear safety regulations system is advancing for nuclear power plants (NPPs) with high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs). In that system, “Safety Assessment and Verification for NPPs with HTGRs” is one of the safety guides planned to be made. In this study, a review was performed in terms of historical development and current status of the relevant safety regulations issued for NPPs with light water reactors. Furthermore, the definitions of engineering terms, such as safety assessment, safety analysis and independent verification, were clarified and the relationship of these activities in the design process was addressed. Regarding the existing regulations, their applicability to safety assessment and independent verification for NPPs with HTGRs was analyzed. Without any doubt, such analysis will provide reference to the planned safety guide.