The special process is adopted for the design basis accident of the plant power failure in the design of a research reactor. The external power grid failure test is carried out in the course of the research reactor rated power operation in order to verify the emergency and standby power supply systems. The results of the experiments show that the electrical control and the power can satisfy the requirements of the emergency shutdown, the building isolation, the core cooling, the residual removal, the dose monitoring, the control and protection and the emergency ventilation.