Published: March 16th, 2013 at 4:26 pm ET
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Date: December 18, 2012
h/t Anonymous tip
Page 74790
The NRC agrees with the comment that the long-term grid collapse scenario postulated by the petitioner would necessitate a coordinated response by various government agencies. [...]
The NRC is currently coordinating with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to ensure a common understanding of the technical phenomena associated with solar storms. [...]
The NRC’s initial evaluation of available information indicates that the likelihood of an extreme solar storm (similar to the 1859 Carrington event 1) is plausible with a frequency in the range of once in 153 to once in 500 years. The probability of the petitioner’s postulated catastrophic grid failure, given a Carrington-like event, is not known with certainty. However, based on the NRC’s review of the existing data, the NRC believes that there is insufficient information for the NRC to conclude that the overall frequency of a series of events potentially leading to core damage at multiple nuclear sites is acceptably low such that no regulatory action is needed. Thus, the NRC concludes that the petitioner’s scenario is sufficiently credible to require consideration of emergency planning and response capabilities under such circumstances. Accordingly, the NRC intends to further evaluate the petitioner’s concerns in the NRC rulemaking process. [...]
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