Changes Will Not Compromise Safety

SEABROOK, NH — NextEra, which owns the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant, said its plan to alter its emergency personnel will not compromise the public’s health and safety.
The company has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to approve the proposed changes to its emergency plan for Seabrook and three other nuclear plants it owns in Florida and Wisconsin.
According to Massachusetts U.S. senators and a non-profit watchdog group, the plan would consolidate some emergency personnel in an office building 1,300 miles away from Seabrook in Juno Beach, FL, in an effort to reduce operating costs.
In a statement to The Town Common Newspaper, Bill Orlove, the company spokesman, wrote, “The company’s top priority is protection of public health and safety, which will not be compromised. These changes do not alter the number of full-time employees at Seabrook Station or at any of the company’s other nuclear facilities.
“All employees at the company’s nuclear facilities play an emergency response role. The company will always ensure its facilities have appropriate staffing in everyday operations and in an emergency situation.”
On Dec. 21, Massachusetts U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren wrote to the NRC that the plan “could compromise the ability to respond effectively to emergencies, putting the safety of the surrounding communities at risk. In light of these concerns, we urge the NRC to thoroughly evaluate the potential consequences of NextEra’s LAR (license amendment request) and avoid approving any new plan that will increase safety risks to nearby communities.”
In response, Orlove wrote, “These changes will improve emergency preparedness through better deployment of the company’s highly skilled team members at Seabrook Station, as well as the company’s other nuclear facilities, by supplementing on-site responders with personnel from across our company, which would improve the ability to coordinate resources and cooperation among personnel.
“Essentially, the company has the capability to increase its response from several hundred employees to several thousand employees.
“This is how the company operates and collaborates among its nuclear facilities during everyday operations and it should be no different in an emergency. It is similar to how the company scales up in response to severe weather events. The changes also bring depth (or “bench strength”) to all the company’s emergency roles by providing flexibility and bringing in the right expert to support an emergency from any of the company’s nuclear facilities, should it be necessary.”
In the case of an emergency, the company’s emergency operations centers will remain the focal point of any response efforts, Orlove wrote. For Seabrook, the emergency center is in Portsmouth, more than 10 miles away from the company’s plant. The company’s other locations will provide assistance, if necessary, in person or remotely.
The NRC is expected to act on NextEra’s request soon, followed by a public comment period.
Entitled “Common Emergency Plan,” the NextEra proposal would impact seven reactors at the four nuclear power plants in New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Florida.
Four of the seven reactors are more than 50 years old and operating beyond their originally designed lifespan. One reactor at Seabrook Station is enclosed in severely compromised concrete.
In two meetings in 2022 prior to the formal submission, NextEra stated that the response times from emergency staff will increase by 50 percent, from 60 to 90 minutes, according to the C-10 Education and Research Foundation. Weather and internet outages could make these response times even longer, C-10 stated.
Sarah Abramson, C-10’s executive director, said these aging reactors “call for more robust, not reduced, emergency resources to ensure the health and safety of the people residing and working in the communities surrounding them.”
For more information please visit www.SeabrookStation.com or visit www.c-10.org