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10 CFR § 100.3 - Definitions.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t10/s100.3"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "10 CFR § 100.3 - Definitions."
title_number: 10
title_name: "Energy"
section_number: "100.3"
section_name: "Definitions."
chapter_name: "NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION"
part_number: "100"
part_name: "REACTOR SITE CRITERIA"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "Atomic Energy Act of 1954, secs. 103, 104, 161, 182 (42 U.S.C. 2133, 2134, 2201, 2232); Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, secs. 201, 202 (42 U.S.C. 5841, 5842); 44 U.S.C. 3504 note."
regulatory_source: "27 FR 3509, Apr. 12, 1962, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "100"
---

# 100.3 Definitions.

As used in this part:

*Combined license* means a combined construction permit and operating license with conditions for a nuclear power facility issued pursuant to subpart C of part 52 of this chapter.

*Early Site Permit* means a Commission approval, issued pursuant to subpart A of part 52 of this chapter, for a site or sites for one or more nuclear power facilities.

*Exclusion area* means that area surrounding the reactor, in which the reactor licensee has the authority to determine all activities including exclusion or removal of personnel and property from the area. This area may be traversed by a highway, railroad, or waterway, provided these are not so close to the facility as to interfere with normal operations of the facility and provided appropriate and effective arrangements are made to control traffic on the highway, railroad, or waterway, in case of emergency, to protect the public health and safety. Residence within the exclusion area shall normally be prohibited. In any event, residents shall be subject to ready removal in case of necessity. Activities unrelated to operation of the reactor may be permitted in an exclusion area under appropriate limitations, provided that no significant hazards to the public health and safety will result.

*Low population zone* means the area immediately surrounding the exclusion area which contains residents, the total number and density of which are such that there is a reasonable probability that appropriate protective measures could be taken in their behalf in the event of a serious accident. These guides do not specify a permissible population density or total population within this zone because the situation may vary from case to case. Whether a specific number of people can, for example, be evacuated from a specific area, or instructed to take shelter, on a timely basis will depend on many factors such as location, number and size of highways, scope and extent of advance planning, and actual distribution of residents within the area.

*Population center distance* means the distance from the reactor to the nearest boundary of a densely populated center containing more than about 25,000 residents.

*Power reactor* means a nuclear reactor of a type described in § 50.21(b) or § 50.22 of this chapter designed to produce electrical or heat energy.

*Response spectrum* is a plot of the maximum responses (acceleration, velocity, or displacement) of idealized single-degree-of-freedom oscillators as a function of the natural frequencies of the oscillators for a given damping value. The response spectrum is calculated for a specified vibratory motion input at the oscillators' supports.

*Safe Shutdown Earthquake Ground Motion* is the vibratory ground motion for which certain structures, systems, and components must be designed pursuant to appendix S to part 50 of this chapter to remain functional.

*Surface deformation* is distortion of geologic strata at or near the ground surface by the processes of folding or faulting as a result of various earth forces. Tectonic surface deformation is associated with earthquake processes.

*Testing reactor* means a *testing facility* as defined in § 50.2 of this chapter.

[61 FR 65175, Dec. 11, 1996]