The Seismic Safety Margins Research Program (SSMRP) was started in 1978 with the goal of developing tools and data bases to compute the probability of earthquake - caused radioactive release from commercial nuclear power plants. These tools and data bases were to help NRC to assess seismic safety at nuclear plants. The methodology to be used was finalized in 1982 and applied to the Zion Nuclear Power Station. The SSMRP will be completed this year with the development of a more simplified method of analysis and a demonstration of its use on Zion. This simplified method is also being applied to a boiling-water-reactor, LaSalle.