Seabrook Nuclear Power Station
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The Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, more commonly known as Seabrook Station, is a
nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generato ...
located in
Seabrook, New Hampshire Seabrook is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 8,401 at the 2020 census. Located at the southern end of the coast of New Hampshire on the border with Massachusetts, Seabrook is noted as the location of th ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, approximately north of
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and south of
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...
. It has operated since 1990. With its 1,244-megawatt electrical output, Seabrook Unit 1 is the largest individual electrical generating unit on the
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
power grid. It is the second largest nuclear plant in New England after the two-unit
Millstone Nuclear Power Plant The Millstone Nuclear Power Station is the only nuclear power plant in Connecticut and the only multi unit nuclear plant in New England. It is located at a former quarry (from which it takes its name) in Waterford. With a total capacity of over 2 ...
in Connecticut. Two reactors were planned at Seabrook but the first unit didn't begin full operation until 1990, a full 14 years after the construction permit was granted, and the second unit was never built due to construction delays caused by protests, cost overruns, and troubles obtaining financing. The difficulties led to the bankruptcy of Seabrook's utility owner, PSNH. Since 2002, Seabrook Station has been owned and operated by
NextEra Energy Resources NextEra Energy Resources, LLC (NEER) is a wholesale electricity supplier based in Juno Beach, Florida. NEER is a subsidiary of NextEra Energy (), a Fortune 200 company. Prior to 2009, NextEra Energy Resources was known as FPL Energy. NextEra ...
.


History


Seabrook Station construction

The
Public Service Company of New Hampshire Public Service of New Hampshire, commonly known as PSNH, was the largest public utility in the U.S. state of New Hampshire for decades. Founded in 1926, it sold natural gas and electricity, and for a time ran electric street-railway services and ...
(PSNH) initially sought plans for building a nuclear power plant in 1966. PSNH initially planned for building the plant in Newington, but the construction permit was denied after concerns of the proposed site being too close to
Pease Air Force Base Pease, in Middle English, was a noun referring to the vegetable pea; see that article for its etymology. The word survives into modern English in pease pudding. Pease may also refer to: People * Pease family (Darlington), a prominent family in D ...
. After the new location of Seabrook was selected, construction plans were finalized in 1972. PSNH originally proposed the first unit coming online by 1979, the second unit coming online by 1981, and a total cost of less than $1 billion. PSNH and the state Public Utilities Commission expected little opposition in constructing Seabrook Station, and even the '' Union Leader'' reported, "Management of Public Service does not anticipate difficulties in obtaining the necessary licenses and permits for the Seabrook site because it is not near an air base s was Newington, its first choice for a site and condenser cooling water can be discharged directly to deep water in the Atlantic Ocean." When the construction and operation plans were presented to the town of Seabrook, the plans "were met with an enthusiastic response" and were unanimously approved. Construction began in August 1976 with cooperation amongst sixteen utility groups. However, numerous problems led to construction delays. In the fall of 1976, the New England regional administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
rejected the cooling tunnel discharge system, which would have disallowed operation of the plant, but the decision was appealed and later overturned in 1978. There were many illegal protests at Seabrook Station, the largest of which was in 1977 that resulted in over 1,400 arrests, which continued on during construction for several years. The
Three Mile Island accident The Three Mile Island accident was a partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island, Unit 2 (TMI-2) reactor in Pennsylvania, United States. It began at 4 a.m. on March 28, 1979. It is the most significant accident in U.S. commercial nuclea ...
in 1979 diminished outside interest in financing and buying ownership of Seabrook Station. Six surrounding New Hampshire towns within the 10-mile emergency planning radius of Seabrook Station including
Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria Canada * Hampton, New Brunswick *Ha ...
refused to provide evacuation planning, and in 1980, the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
(NRC) was petitioned to halt construction until those evacuation plans were resolved. The six
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
towns within the 10-mile radius were also opposed to Seabrook Station, which resulted in political opposition, such as from Massachusetts Governor
Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history a ...
, and numerous legal suits during construction. In 1984, due to continuing financial and regulatory problems, the owners canceled construction of the second reactor unit at 25% completion after $800 million spent. Construction of Reactor Unit 1 was eventually completed in 1986, but shortly thereafter in 1988, the large debt involved led to the bankruptcy of Seabrook's major utility owner PSNH. At the time, this was the fourth largest bankruptcy in United States corporate history. The construction of Seabrook Station was completed ten years later than expected, with a cost approaching $7 billion. The NRC described its own regulatory oversight of Seabrook as "a paradigm of fragmented and uncoordinated government decision making," and "a system strangling itself and the economy in red tape."


NextEra Energy and recent history

The plant was originally owned by more than 10 separate utility companies serving five New England states. In 2002, most sold their shares to FPL Energy (a subsidiary of FPL Group), later known as
NextEra Energy Resources NextEra Energy Resources, LLC (NEER) is a wholesale electricity supplier based in Juno Beach, Florida. NEER is a subsidiary of NextEra Energy (), a Fortune 200 company. Prior to 2009, NextEra Energy Resources was known as FPL Energy. NextEra ...
, for a controlling 88.2% share of Seabrook Station at a total cost of $836.6 million. The remaining portion is owned by municipal utilities in Massachusetts. The station is one of five nuclear generating facilities operated by parent company
NextEra Energy NextEra Energy, Inc. is an American energy company with about 58 GW of generating capacity (24 GW of which were from fossil fuel sources), revenues of over $18 billion in 2020, and about 14,900 employees throughout the US and Canada. It is the ...
. The other four are St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant and
Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear and gas-fired power plant located on a site two miles east of Homestead, Florida, United States, next to Biscayne National Park located about south of Miami, Florida near the southernmo ...
operated by sister company
Florida Power & Light Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), the principal subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc. (formerly FPL Group, Inc.), is the largest power utility in Florida. It is a Juno Beach, Florida-based power utility company serving roughly 5 million customer ...
(a regulated utility), and the
Duane Arnold Energy Center The Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC) was Iowa's only nuclear power plant. It is located on a site on the west bank of the Cedar River, north-northeast of Palo, Iowa, USA, or northwest of Cedar Rapids. DAEC entered operation in February 197 ...
and
Point Beach Nuclear Generating Station Point Beach Nuclear Plant is a nuclear power plant located on Lake Michigan in the town of Two Creeks, Wisconsin, United States. The plant was built by Wisconsin Electric Power Company (now We Energies, a subsidiary of Wisconsin Energy Corporat ...
operated by NextEra Energy Resources. During the 2008 presidential election, Republican nominee
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
mentioned the possibility of building the once-planned second reactor at Seabrook. The idea drew cautious support from some officials, but would be difficult due to financial and regulatory reasons. In 2009, the name of the nuclear power plant was officially changed to NextEra Energy Seabrook, but the plant is still widely known and referred to as Seabrook Station. In 2017, due to the steady drop in value of nuclear power plants including Seabrook Station, the town of Seabrook enacted a 9.9 percent tax increase to offset the decrease in tax revenue collected from the plant's owner,
NextEra Energy NextEra Energy, Inc. is an American energy company with about 58 GW of generating capacity (24 GW of which were from fossil fuel sources), revenues of over $18 billion in 2020, and about 14,900 employees throughout the US and Canada. It is the ...
. In 2019, the
New Hampshire House of Representatives The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 legislative district ...
introduced House Bill 1661 that would have removed Seabrook Station's property tax exemption for components used to mitigate air and water pollution. In 2020, House Bill 1661 failed to proceed out of the NH House of Representatives. In April 2020,
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
members of the
U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
that included U.S. Senators
Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...
and
Ed Markey Edward John Markey (born July 11, 1946) is an American lawyer, politician, and former Army reservist who has served as the junior United States senator from Massachusetts since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representati ...
and Congressman
Seth Moulton Seth Wilbur Moulton (born October 24, 1978) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 6th congressional district since 2015. A former Marine Corps officer, he is a member of the Democratic Party. After gra ...
called on the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
and
NextEra Energy NextEra Energy, Inc. is an American energy company with about 58 GW of generating capacity (24 GW of which were from fossil fuel sources), revenues of over $18 billion in 2020, and about 14,900 employees throughout the US and Canada. It is the ...
to release the pandemic plan for Seabrook Station in response to
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The letter was submitted in response to the ongoing refueling outage bringing hundreds of workers on site with concerns over safety procedures and plant staffing. Seabrook Station was also granted regulatory exemptions from the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
to aid in its preventative efforts against the spread of
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
including loosening work-hour controls and deferring certain inspections. Beginning in the early 2020s, NextEra Energy has been involved in an ongoing dispute with utility company
Avangrid Avangrid, Inc. (formerly Energy East and Iberdrola USA), is an energy services and delivery company. AVANGRID serves about 3.1 million customers throughout New England, Pennsylvania and New York in the United States. History In 2008 Iberdrola ...
over the New England Clean Energy Connect power line being constructed in Maine, which is aimed to bring
hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, converting the Pot ...
from Canada to the New England power grid. Before being interconnected to the New England electric grid, the additional power delivery would require upgrades to Seabrook Station's main generator breaker, which is being litigated over the cost of the upgrade and which party or parties would be responsible for those costs. If the project moves forward with all disputes resolved, the required upgrades would be completed during the next planned refueling shutdown in spring 2023.


Relicensing

In 2010, Seabrook Station applied to have its operating license extended from 2030 to 2050. In September 2012, Massachusetts Reps.
Edward Markey Edward John Markey (born July 11, 1946) is an American lawyer, politician, and former Army reservist who has served as the junior United States senator from Massachusetts since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representat ...
and
John F. Tierney John F. Tierney (born September 18, 1951) is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts from 1997 to 2015. He is a Democrat who represented the state's , which includes the state's North Shore and Cape Ann ...
filed H.R. 6554, titled the "Nuclear Reactor Safety First Act", which would have prevented nuclear plants from receiving license extensions from the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
(NRC) if they applied more than 10 years before their licenses expired. The legislation was specifically aimed at Seabrook Station's license extension, but the bill never proceeded out of House Committee. During the relicensing process, there were safety concerns pertaining to concrete degradation at the plant due to
alkali–silica reaction The alkali–silica reaction (ASR), more commonly known as concrete cancer, is a deleterious swelling reaction that occurs over time in concrete between the highly alkaline cement paste and the reactive amorphous (''i.e.'', non-crystalline) si ...
(ASR) because of ground-water infiltration into various structure foundations, which prompted concerns from various local politicians. In June 2017, NRC officials "reviewed numerous documents and inspected the plant as it gauge NextEra's safety plan to monitor and manage the alkali-silica reaction phenomenon present in concrete throughout the power plant". In October 2017, federal regulators allowed the non-profit nuclear watchdog group C-10 to weigh in on the license amendment request. On March 12, 2019, the NRC announced it would be renewing the operating license of Seabrook Station for an additional 20 years, expiring on March 15, 2050. Following the license extension announcement, the group C-10 filed an emergency petition to the NRC in an attempt to prevent any license extension until further hearings on ASR were held, which was denied by the NRC in July 2019. In August 2020, the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) formally accepted Seabrook Station's concrete monitoring program for ASR concerns. However, additional monitoring conditions were imposed by the Board in the plant's license, citing that they are "necessary to provide adequate protection of public health and safety". In May 2021, U.S Senators
Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...
and
Ed Markey Edward John Markey (born July 11, 1946) is an American lawyer, politician, and former Army reservist who has served as the junior United States senator from Massachusetts since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representati ...
, both from
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
, sent a letter to the NRC expressing concerns with the ASLB's decision and that the NRC should "reopen the record for consideration of supplemental testimony and strengthen the four license conditions in the ASLB’s Initial Decision."


Community impact

In 2013, the
Nuclear Energy Institute The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) is a nuclear industry trade association in the United States, based in Washington, D.C. Synopsis According to its website, the NEI "develops policy on key legislative and regulatory issues affecting the in ...
released a study showing the positive impact of Seabrook Station on the economy and environment. Key findings are listed below. * Seabrook Station directly employs 650 people that earn, on average, more than double the average salary of workers in Rockingham County and Strafford County * Seabrook Station generates approximately 40 percent of New Hampshire's total electricity, and its emission-free operation helps avoid the emission of nearly 4 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, which is the equivalent of taking almost 700,000 cars off the road * Seabrook Station contributes $535 million of economic activity locally and contributes $1.4 billion to the U.S. economy each year, and for every dollar of output from Seabrook Station, the local economy produced $1.34 * Seabrook Station's financial contributions to local environmental groups over the previous decade amounted to more than $1 million Seabrook Station has been cited as crucial for allowing
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
to comply with carbon emission legal requirements, which was also evidenced by the closure of
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant Vermont Yankee was an electricity generating nuclear power plant, located in the town of Vernon, Vermont, in the northeastern United States. It generated 620 megawatts (MWe) of electricity at full power. The plant was a boiling water reacto ...
in 2015 causing carbon emissions to rise in
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
for the first time in five years. According to projections by
ISO New England ISO New England Inc. (ISO-NE) is an independent, non-profit Regional Transmission Organization (RTO), headquartered in Holyoke, Massachusetts, serving Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. ISO-NE ov ...
, any decrease in electricity production in the region would not be expected to be replaced by
renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
and instead would be replaced by
natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
. According to 2011 projections, if a
gas-fired power plant A gas-fired power plant or gas-fired power station or natural gas power plant is a thermal power station which burns natural gas to generate electricity. Natural gas power stations generate almost a quarter of world electricity and a signifi ...
had been built instead of Seabrook Station, then "it would have emitted nearly 94 million metric tons of CO2 over 22 years – nearly equal to all of Arizona's CO2 emissions for the whole of 2009". As of 2020, municipal electric utilities in Massachusetts only produced 2.43% of their energy from wind and solar energy, but because of contracts held with Seabrook Nuclear Station and
Millstone Nuclear Power Plant The Millstone Nuclear Power Station is the only nuclear power plant in Connecticut and the only multi unit nuclear plant in New England. It is located at a former quarry (from which it takes its name) in Waterford. With a total capacity of over 2 ...
in
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
, the share of non-emitting energy produced by Massachusetts municipal electric utilities jumps to 38.22%. In April 2018, the New Hampshire Office of Strategic Initiatives released the state's 10-year state energy strategy that cited "preserving Seabrook Station as a source of zero-carbon energy is the most realistic and cost-effective means of managing emissions in New Hampshire at scale". If the electricity generation of Seabrook Station was to be matched by
wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...
or
solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic e ...
, the required land "would need about 290 square miles of wind turbines or about 80 square miles of solar panels".


Noteworthy events

In 1998, a plant electrician was laid off shortly after raising a safety concern with a system wiring configuration. The
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
(NRC) initiated an investigation into the matter, and determined that this action was a violation involving discrimination against an employee for raising a safety concern. This event resulted in an NRC Severity Level III violation and a $55,000 civil penalty. In 2000, one of Seabrook Station's two emergency diesel generators failed during a surveillance test. The NRC inspection report detailed the event as follows: The NRC determined that the above event was a White finding (an issue of low to moderate safety significance), which also "involved the failure to take adequate corrective actions to address degraded components associated with one of the two emergency diesel generators (EDG)". In 2005, a security fence installed by a subcontracted engineering firm failed a NRC inspection and was declared inoperable, which resulted in a fine of $65,000 by the NRC since "both design of the system and testing procedures did not adhere to NRC guidelines". In 2012, the
southern Maine coast Southern Maine Coast is a region of the U.S. state of Maine. It commonly includes the coastal areas of York County and Cumberland County. Some notable towns are Biddeford, Kittery, York, Wells, Ogunquit, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Saco, Old ...
experienced a magnitude 4.0 earthquake during Seabrook Station's refueling outage. An "Unusual Event" emergency classification was declared, but there was no impact to the plant or disruption in refueling activities. In 2013, Seabrook Station and the workers' union reached a last-minute contract agreement within hours of expiring that would have resulted in a
lockout Lockout may refer to: * Lockout (industry), a type of work stoppage **Dublin Lockout, a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers 1913 - 1914 * Lockout (sports), lockout in sports leagues **MLB lockout, lock ...
. In 2014, a small electrical fire originating from an elevator motor resulted in the declaration of an "Unusual Event" emergency classification. There were no injuries, evacuations, or threat to public safety from the event. In 2015, a Seabrook Station security guard had stuffed a rifle barrel with an ear plug and two rolled up pieces of paper, which was later found during rifle cleaning. The event prompted an NRC investigation, and the security guard was banned for three years from involvement in all NRC-licensed activities. In 2018, a magnitude 2.7
earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
occurred approximately 10 miles from Seabrook Station, but the earthquake did not trigger any emergency procedures or result in any signs of structural damage to the plant. In mid-2020, Seabrook Station experienced two unplanned shutdowns due to a set of control rods unexpectedly inserting into the reactor core. In both cases, all safety systems responded appropriately with the reactor being safely shut down. On the morning of July 12, 2022, nine of the plant's sirens were "inadvertently activated" within the plant's 10-mile emergency planning zone. The sirens within the Hampton Beach area called for the beach and surrounding beaches to be evacuated. The plant and New Hampshire and Massachusetts Emergency Management Administrations later confirmed the siren activation to be a false alarm caused by human error during routine silent testing of the plant's 121 sirens. The false alarm led to the closure of beaches in
Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria Canada * Hampton, New Brunswick *Ha ...
, Rye, and Seabrook.


Public opposition

In 1975, the success of the
anti-nuclear movement in Germany The anti-nuclear movement in Germany has a long history dating back to the early 1970s when large demonstrations prevented the construction of a nuclear plant at Wyhl. The Wyhl protests were an example of a local community challenging the nucl ...
in cancelling construction of the nuclear power plant in
Wyhl Wyhl () is a municipality in the district of Emmendingen in Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany. It is known in the 1970s for its role in the anti-nuclear movement. Wyhl was first mentioned in 1971 as a possible site for a nuclear power st ...
began to inspire attempted occupations of the construction site for Seabrook Station. Shortly thereafter in 1976, the
Clamshell Alliance The Clamshell Alliance is an anti-nuclear organization founded in 1976 to oppose the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The alliance has been dormant for many years. The group was co-founded by Paul Gunter, ...
was formed after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued Seabrook Station's construction permit. On August 1, 1976, 600 protesters rallied at the Seabrook Station construction site. The following year in May 1977, more than 2,000 protesters occupied the construction site, of which "1,414 were arraigned on criminal
trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding ...
charges, one of the largest mass arrests in U.S. history". The Clamshell Alliance and its protests against the construction of Seabrook Station inspired other U.S. anti-nuclear groups to form including the
Abalone Alliance The Abalone Alliance (1977–1985) was a nonviolent civil disobedience group formed to shut down the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Diablo Canyon Power Plant near San Luis Obispo on the central California coast in the United States. They modele ...
protesting
Diablo Canyon Power Plant The Diablo Canyon Power Plant is a nuclear power plant near Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County, California. Since the permanent shutdown of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in 2013, Diablo Canyon has been the only operational nuclea ...
and the Crabshell Alliance protesting
Satsop Nuclear Power Plant Washington Nuclear Project Nos. 3 and 5, abbreviated as WNP-3 and WNP-5 (collectively known as the Satsop Nuclear Power Plant) were two of the five nuclear power plants on which construction was started by the Washington Public Power Supply Syste ...
, among others. However, construction of Seabrook Station continued, and many Clamshell Alliance activists became dispirited with reports of "massive burnout and dropout" following the 1977 occupation. In September 2017, activist Steve Comley Sr. along with his non-profit "We The People" paid for an electronic
billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
in
Salisbury, Massachusetts Salisbury is a small coastal beach town and summer tourist destination in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The community is a popular summer resort beach town situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of Boston on the New Hampshire border. ...
, allegedly warning of the absence of an evacuation plan in the event of an accident at Seabrook Station. In January 2018, the town of
Merrimac, Massachusetts Merrimac is a small town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, and on the southeastern border of New Hampshire, approximately northeast of Boston and west of the Atlantic Ocean. It was incorporated on April 11, 1876. It is situated alo ...
, joined half a dozen other communities "calling for the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
to hold a hearing on whether the Seabrook, New Hampshire, nuclear power plant's evacuation plan can be effectively implemented". In response,
NextEra Energy NextEra Energy, Inc. is an American energy company with about 58 GW of generating capacity (24 GW of which were from fossil fuel sources), revenues of over $18 billion in 2020, and about 14,900 employees throughout the US and Canada. It is the ...
released the following statement:


Accident analysis

The
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of , concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about , concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity. The 2010 U.S. population within of Seabrook was 118,747, an increase of 10.1 percent in a decade. The 2010 U.S. population within was 4,315,571, an increase of 8.7 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
(40 miles to city center). The
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
's estimate of the risk each year of an
earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Seabrook was 1 in 45,455, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.


References


External links


Information on Seabrook Station
at NextEra Energy site

with timeline, scanned articles 1977-2007, images and links {{U.S. anti-nuclear Energy infrastructure completed in 1986 Nuclear power plants in New Hampshire NextEra Energy Buildings and structures in Rockingham County, New Hampshire Unfinished nuclear reactors Nuclear power stations using pressurized water reactors Anti-nuclear protests in the United States Seabrook, New Hampshire 1986 establishments in New Hampshire