Function of battery bank stores energy for DC load in general, and DC power system of the nuclear power plant is used to supply DC loads for safety- featured instrumentation and control such as inverter, class 1E power system control and indication, and station annunciation. Class 1E DC power system must provide a power for the design basis accident conditions, and adequate capacity must be available during loss of AC power and subsequent safe shutdown of the plant. In present, batteries of Class 1E DC power system of the nuclear power plant uses lead-acid batteries. Class 1E batteries of nuclear power plants in Korea are summarized in terms of specification, such as capacity, discharge rate, bank configuration and discharge end voltage, etc. This paper summarizes standards of determining battery size for the nuclear power plant, and analyzes duty cycle for the class 1E DC power system of nuclear power plant. Then, battery cell size is calculated as 2613Ah according to the standard. In addition, this paper analyzes performance test results during past 13 years and shows performance degradation in the battery bank. Performance tests in 2001 and 2005 represent that entire battery cells do not reach the discharge-end voltage. Howeyer, the discharge-end voltage is reached in 14.7% of channel A (17 EA), 13.8% of channel B (16 EA), 5.2% of channel C (6 EA) and 16.4% of channel D (19 EA) at 2011 performance test. Based on the performance test results analysis and size calculation, battery capacity and degradation by age in Korearn nuclear power plant is discussed and would be used for new design.