| Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant | |
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Seabrook Station |
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| Country | United States |
| Location | Seabrook, New Hampshire |
| Coordinates | |
| Status | Operational |
| Commission date | March 15, 1990 |
| Licence expiration | October 17, 2026 |
| Owner(s) | NextEra Energy Resources |
| Constructor(s) | United Engineers and Constructors |
| Reactor information | |
| Reactors operational | 1 X 1,194 MW |
| Reactors cancelled | 1 X 1,194 MW |
| Reactor type(s) | PWR |
| Reactor supplier(s) | Westinghouse |
| Turbine manufacturer(s) | General Electric |
| Power generation information | |
| Installed capacity | 1244 MW |
| Annual generation | 10,763 GW·h |
| Website http://www.fpl.com/environment/nuclear/about_seabrook_station.shtml |
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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 miles (64 km) north of Boston and 10 miles (16 km) south of Portsmouth. 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 canceled and most of its major components sold to other plants.
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 now owns 88.2% of Seabrook Station. The remaining portion is owned by municipal utilities in Massachusetts.
The station is one of five nuclear generating facilities operated by FPL Group. The other four are St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant and Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station operated by sister company Florida Power & Light (a regulated utility), and the Duane Arnold Energy Center and Point Beach Nuclear Generating Station operated by NextEra.
In 2010, the plant applied to have its operating license extended from 2030 to 2050. [1]
The Wackenhut Corporation provides plant security to three of the four sites. Seabrook, St. Lucie, and Turkey Point experienced security related problems between 2004 and 2006. At Seabrook, US Congressmen and the NRC investigated reports that a newly installed security fence had not worked properly since its installation six months earlier, in addition to reports of overworked security officers.[2][3][4][5][6]
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In the eight years before construction started at Seabrook, residents had opposed the plant before regulatory agencies and in a town meeting vote. Spurred on by the failure of these methods, and the success of a large anti-nuclear site occupation in Whyl, Germany, local people formed the Clamshell Alliance.[7]
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 after they refused bail.[8] Over a period of thirteen years, from 1976 to 1989, over 4,000 citizens "committed nonviolent civil disobedience at Seabrook in the effort to stop nuclear power".[9]
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 concern about emergency evacuation plans. The NRC had stipulated that workable evacuation plans needed to be in place for all towns within a ten-mile radius of the plant. Four Massachusetts towns were within the ten-mile radius and thus Governor Dukakis' approval of evacuation plans was required.[9]
The construction of Seabrook was completed ten years later than expected, with a cost approaching $7 billion. The large debt involved led to the bankruptcy of Seabrook's major utility owner, Public Service Company of New Hampshire. At the time, this was the fourth largest bankruptcy in United States corporate history.[9]
A second reactor was proposed in 1972 and canceled in 1988.[10]
During the 2008 presidential election, Republican nominee John McCain 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. [1]
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 miles (16 km), concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 miles (80 km), concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.[11]
The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Seabrook was 118,747, an increase of 10.1 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80 km) was 4,315,571, an increase of 8.7 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Boston (40 miles to city center).[12]
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake 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.[13][14]
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Seabrook_Station_Nuclear_Power_Plant Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant] at Wikimedia Commons
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