Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant
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The Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, more commonly known as Seabrook Station, is a nuclear power plant located in Seabrook, New Hampshire, approximately 40 mi north of Boston and 10 mi (16 km) south of Portsmouth, NH. Initially two units (reactors) were planned, but the second unit was never completed due to construction delays, cost overruns and troubles obtaining financing. The construction permit for the plant was granted in 1976 and construction on Unit 1 was completed in 1986. Full power operation of Unit 1 began in 1990. Unit 2 has been mothballed and partially removed.
The plant was originally owned by more than 10 separate utility companies serving 5 New England states. In 2002, most sold their shares to FPL Energy (a subsidiary of FPL Group). FPL Energy now owns 88.2% of Seabrook Station. The remaining portion is owned by municipal utilities in Massachusetts.
The station is one of four nuclear generating stations operated by FPL Group. The other three are St. Lucie and Turkey Point (operated by Florida Power and Light) and Duane Arnold (operated by FPL Energy). The Wackenhut Corporation provides plant security to all four sites. However there has been opposition as to whether or not their stay will be long lived.
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[edit] Environmental Benefit
Compared to a coal plant of similar size, the operation of Seabrook Station avoids the release of over 7 million tons of waste gases into the atmosphere each year. These gases include carbon and sulfur dioxides (contributers to global warming and acid rain respectively). Also avoided are over 150-200,000 million tons of solid wastes such as fly ash.
[edit] Local opposition
The 1976 controversy involved the Clamshell Alliance, an anti-nuclear organization formed to protest the construction of the plant. Several small demonstrations at the site occurred in the lead-up to a massive occupation of Seabrook. More than 2,000 members of the Clamshell Alliance occupied the site in April, 1977. 1,414 of the activists were arrested and held for two weeks refusing bail. Opposition to the plant has been generally quiet since construction was completed, although there is some public concern about security.
Another vocal opponent of the plant was former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, who blocked the opening for several years, due to environmental issues, as well as the fact that an adequate emergency evacuation plan had not been established to his satisfaction. (The NRC had stipulated that workable evacutation plans needed to be in place for all towns within a ten-mile radius of the plant, and four of those towns were in Massachusetts, and thus Governor Dukakis' approval was needed to move forward.)
[edit] Technical details
- Generation: 1,270 MWe at full power
- One Westinghouse pressurized water reactor
- Cooled by water from Atlantic Ocean
