
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Home

Who We Are

What We Do

Nuclear Reactors

Nuclear Materials

Radioactive Waste

Facility Info Finder

Public Involvement

Electronic Reading Room

Loss of coolant accident (LOCA)

Those postulated accidents that result in a loss of reactor coolant at a rate in excess of the capability of the reactor makeup system from breaks in the reactor coolant pressure boundary, up to and including a break equivalent in size to the double-ended rupture of the largest pipe of the reactor coolant system.