Cool documentary about the anti-nuclear Clamshell Alliance in 1970s Seabrook, New Hampshire. It runs about an hour and 45 minutes in length.
@mycotropic Heck, as a family, we used to gather clams at the flats in #SeabrookNH, and have clam bakes before they built the #NuclearPlant. Native Americans (Agawam) used to do the same thing along the coast of Northeastern MA / Southern NH.
Pretty hard to evacuate if the roads are flooded! Or if it's summer tourist season!
Mass. and N.H. Release Updated #SeabrookNuclearPowerPlant Emergency Guides
WHAV News Staff By WHAV News Staff | January 8, 2024
"#Massachusetts and #NewHampshire have both released updated brochures to guide residents in the event of an emergency at the Seabrook nuclear power plant.
"Each state outlines its own communities and emergency plans and procedures for its portion of the 10-mile radius emergency planning zone. New Hampshire communities are #BrentwoodNH, #EastKingstonNH, #ExeterNH, #GreenlandNH, #HamptonNH, #HamptonFallsNH, #KensingtonNH, #KingstonNH, #NewCastleNH, #NewfieldsNH, #NewtonNH, #NorthHamptonNH, #PortsmouthNH, #RyeNH, #SeabrookNH, #SouthHamptonNH and #StrathamNH. In Massachusetts, they are #AmesburyMA, #MerrimacMA, #NewburyMA, #NewburyportMA, #SalisburyMA and #WestNewbury. While a small portion of #HaverhillMA falls within the 10-miles radius and the city borders a number of the communities within the zone, no specific evacuation plans are listed for the city.
"Methuen is also not within the zone, but Methuen High School would accept Amesbury students in the event of an emergency.
"Brochures tell parents, for example, where their children in schools or day care centers will be taken in an emergency and where 'reception centers' are located in the event of an emergency. For example, West Newbury parents are directed to Tewksbury High School, while if evacuation is required, the Masconomet Reception Center, 20 Endicott Road, Boxford, will open to receive, register, monitor and decontaminate (if necessary) evacuees and their vehicles. Evacuation routes for each community are also listed.
"According to a Friday press release from the New Hampshire Department of Safety, the updated brochure details the four emergency classification levels and instructions to be followed in the event one is declared. It lists the ways in which residents, business and visitors may be notified of a potential event at Seabrook Station and what to do during a shelter-in-place or evacuation."
#SeabrookNuclearPlant #SeabrookStation #C10 #SeaLevelRise #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #ClimateCrisis #Flooding #ClimateCatastrophe #WaterIsLife #AlkaliSilicaReaction
#GlobalSeaLevelRise
So, it seems the #SeabrookNuclearPlant survived the recent storms without incident, but if there was a problem, there is NO WAY nearby residents would have been able to evacuate. I came across this letter to the #NRC from the group #NoMoreFukushimas expressing their concerns about #ClimateChange and #NuclearPlants in 2012!
Concerns regarding the #SeabrookStation
No More Fukushimas letter to the NRC.
The Honorable Allison M. Macfarlane, Chair
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
11555 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20852
November 8, 2012
Dear Chairwoman Macfarlane:
We appreciated receiving a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) response to the August 28, 2012, letter that we sent to the NRC concerning Seabrook Station relicensing. The NRC's response (October 17, 2012) came from Dennis Morey, Chief, Project Manager 1, Projects Branch Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (Docket No. 50-443).
In our letter, we highlighted a concern openly discussed NRC meeting April 26, 2012, on Seabrook relicensing held in Hampton, New Hampshire. Data indicates that due to climate change there could be an increase in #SeaLevels and storm surges that would affect the Seabrook plant. Obviously, the flooding of the Seabrook plant campus should be a cause for concern, especially since it the flooding is projected to occur within the timeframe of the relicensing period, 2030-2050.
In his response to our letter, Mr. Morey categorically rejected the idea that this rising sea level information was of any relevance to the relicensing of the Seabrook plant:
"Regarding your concerns about the current design-basis flood level calculations.... please note that these issues are not part of the NRC's review of a license renewal application. A license renewal review is not a re-review of the facility licensing basis; rather, it is focused on managing
the age-related degradation of passive systems, structures, and components to ensure they will fulfill their safety-related functions, as specified in the current licensing basis.
"The NRC has multiple processes to evaluate the adequacy of current plant operations and licensing bases. Should the NRC become aware at any time of information calling into question the continued safe operation of any nuclear power plant, including Seabrook Station, the NRC will take the appropriate actions as part of the agency's ongoing safety oversight, regardless of
whether those plants have sought or are seeking a renewed license."
In the twists and turns of bureaucratic thinking, Mr. Morey may be technically correct that climate-
change-related flooding is not an "age-related" deterioration artifact. But, Mr. Morey seems to brush off the fact that new global climate conditions could completely reconfigure the safety profile of the plant. We believe that whether or not climate-change-related flooding falls within "design-basis flood calculations" is a hairsplitting issue for bureaucrats. However, for those of who live near the plant it's a major safety issue. Therefore, if necessary, we respectfully recommend that NRC modify its relicensing concerns to include global climate change/rising sea levels in its license renewal framework.
Furthermore, Mr. Morey must know that the NRC has identified "alkali-silica reaction (ASR)" as a potential long-term threat to the reliability of the Seabrook plant and that structural degradation due to
#ASR is currently under the NRC's relicensing review. The flooding water will obviously raise levels of saltwater saturation, which will accelerate concrete degradation so, on that basis alone, the flooding should be within the Seabrook relicensing purview.
Finally, since Mr. Morey did not identify the steps the NRC plans to take to address flooding at the Seabrook plant, we surmise that the NRC does not consider flooding due to sea-level rise to be a problem. Our concern has escalated since researchers at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University in an October 31, 2012, piece in the Washington Post reported that they had conducted a study that assessed the vulnerability of #NuclearPlants flooding around the world.
The Stanford researchers collected information on plant height, #SeaWall height and the location of emergency power generators for 89 nuclear plants that lie next to water. They compared this to
historical information on high waves triggered by various sources, such as #earthquakes, #landslides and #hurricanes. The study found that the U.S. plants most vulnerable to inundation are the Salem and #HopeCreek plants on the New Jersey / #Delaware border; the #Millstone plant in Connecticut; and the Seabrook plant in New Hampshire (italics added). We strongly urge you to contact the researchers and obtain this invaluable information from them directly.
That said, we ask the NRC-as we did in our August letter-to review the risk that rising sea levels, #StormSurges or increased groundwater saturation of concrete poses to residents who live in the vicinity of the Seabrook nuclear power plant. As we have stated, we believe it is entirely appropriate to do so within the purview of the license renewal process. But, in the spirit of public safety, which we believe should be paramount-we urge the NRC to use whatever regulatory tools are needed to investigate this critical issue.
Sincerely yours,
Bruce Skud and Joanna Hammond
Co-founders, No More Fukushimas!
My latest blog post, inspired by #C10's recent demand for the #NRC to pay more attention to the #ASR issues at the #Seabrook nuclear plant. I spent much of the day reviewing the NRC reports and also reading scientific articles about #ASR -- which causes concrete to degrade, and which has a number of causes. I did my best to try and summarize the issue -- which currently has no solution! Concrete is used in all 144 #NuclearPlants worldwide as well as long-term storage of #RadioactiveWaste!
ASR Concrete Degradation a Concern at Seabrook Nuclear Plant
December 15, 2022
ASR, or Alkali-Silica Reaction has many causes, and is a concern for aging nuclear plants worldwide -- not just in the USA
https://doomsdayscw.blogspot.com/2022/12/asr-concrete-degradation-concern-at.html
#NoNukes #WaterIsLife #RethinkNotRestart #SeabrookStation #SeabrookNuclearPlant #SeabrookNH
