Sandia nuclear power plant siting study

NRC's Siting Analysis Branch requested Sandia National Laboratories to provide technical guidance for establishing (1) numerical criteria for population density and distribution surrounding future nuclear power plant sites and (2) standoff distances from plants for offsite hazards. The first task involved analyses in four areas, each of which could play a role in evaluating the impact of a siting policy. The four areas were risks from possible plant accidents, population distribution characteristics for existing sites, availability of sites, and socioeconomic impacts. The second task had two areas of concern: determination of which classes of offsite hazards are amenable to regulation by fixed standoff distances, and review of available models for the determination of appropriate standoff distances. Results, conclusions, and recommendations of the study are summarized