NRC SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON DRAFT ANALYSIS

 TO SUPPORT REVISED “STATION BLACKOUT” RULE

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is seeking public comment on the agency’s 

draft regulatory basis to amend current requirements for U.S. nuclear power plants to safely 

withstand a “station blackout,” or complete loss of alternating current power. The agency is 

amending its station blackout rule based on lessons learned from the March 2011 nuclear 

accident in Fukushima, Japan.

One of Fukushima’s key lessons was the need to ensure a nuclear power plant can keep 

its safety systems functioning even if normal power sources and emergency diesel generators are 

lost. As part of implementing this lesson, the Commission in October 2011 directed the staff to 

revise the station blackout rule in an expedited manner. In March 2012 the NRC issued an Order 

for all U.S. reactors to put “mitigating strategies” in place to safely handle extreme situations 

such as station blackouts. In March 2013 the Commission directed the staff to expand the 

rulemaking to incorporate requirements for ensuring a nuclear power plant can keep enough 

water in its spent fuel pool to maintain safety. The draft document concludes the agency has a 

proper basis for amending the rule.

The draft regulatory basis will be available on the federal government’s rulemaking 

website under Docket ID NRC-2011-0299. The document is available now in the NRC’s 

electronic document database, ADAMS, under accession number ML13077A453. The staff 

expects to hold a public meeting later this spring to discuss the document.

The draft includes specific questions for the public to consider in providing comments as 

the staff prepares formal revised rule language. The staff is interested in topics such as:

 How should new large reactor designs account for station blackout scenarios?

 How should small modular reactor concepts handle station blackout mitigation?

 How should human reliability be accounted for? and;

 How should the revised rule reflect information from efforts to comply with the 

Order?

Comments are due 45 days from issuance of a notice in the Federal Register, expected 

shortly. Comments may be submitted through the federal government’s rulemaking website

using Docket ID NRC-2011-0299. Comments can also be submitted via e-mail to 

Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov ; via fax to Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200

Washington, D.C. 20555-0001

E-mail: opa.resource@nrc.gov Site: www.nrc.gov

Blog: http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov

No. 13-023 April 4, 2013
301-415-1101; via mail to Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 

20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff; or hand-delivered during regular 

workdays to 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852, between 7:30 am and 4:15 pm Eastern 

time.

The NRC reminds the public to exclude identifying or contact information in comment 

submissions that a person wants to keep private. The NRC will post all comment submissions at 

www.regulations.gov as well as in ADAMS, and the NRC does not routinely edit comment 

submissions to remove identifying or contact information. 

###

News releases are available through a free Listserv subscription or by clicking on the EMAIL UPDATES 

link on the NRC homepage (www.nrc.gov). E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are 

posted to NRC's website. For the latest news, follow the NRC on www.twitter.com/NRCgov.