The Corporation shall perform an analysis of potential accidents and consequences to establish the basis for limiting conditions for operation of the plant with respect to the potential for releases of radioactive material. Special attention must be directed to assurance that plant operation will be conducted in a manner to prevent or to mitigate the consequences from a reasonable spectrum of postulated accidents which include internal and external events and natural phenomena in order to ensure adequate protection of the public health and safety. Plant operating history relevant to the assessment should be included. In performing this assessment, the full range of operations should be considered including, but not necessarily limited to, operation at the maximum capacity contemplated. The assessment must be performed using an expected release rate resulting from anticipated operational occurrences and accidents with existing systems and procedures intended to mitigate the release consequences, along with site characteristics, including meteorology, to evaluate the offsite radiological consequences.
10 C.F.R. §76.85