Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

State-of-the-art Reactor Consequence Analyses (Soarca) Report Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Accident phenomena and offsite consequences of severe reactor accidents have been the subjects of considerable research over the last several decades by the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). As a consequence of this research focus, analyses of severe accidents at nuclear power reactors are more detailed, integrated, and realistic than at any time in the past. A desire to leverage this capability to address conservative aspects of previous reactor accident analyses was a major motivating factor in the genesis of the State-of-the-Art Reactor Consequence Analyses (SOARCA) project. By applying modern analysis tools and techniques, the SOARCA project developed a body of knowledge regarding the realistic outcomes of select severe nuclear reactor accidents.