An earthquake centered close to the Seabrook nuclear generating station on the New Hampshire sea coast should be a “wake-up call,” Beyond Nuclear's Paul Gunter told the Boston Herald. Gunter was a founder of the country's first anti-nuclear power group, the Clamshell Alliance, which oposed the construction of the Seabrook plant.
Local activist group C-10 (Citizens Within The Ten-Mile Radius) has raised the alarm about the fact that the nuclear power plant’s structures are under active attack by an expansive chemical reaction known as Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) that is progressively weakening the reactor by micro-fracturing of concrete increasingly saturated with groundwater intrusion. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, while aware of the problem, has failed to act. Since there is no remedy for ASR, C-10 and Beyond Nuclear want Seabrook shut down.
“Even these small earthquakes are a wake-up call to look at the broader issues of vulnerability at the plant and the inherent danger of the operation,” Gunter told the Herald. “These are legitimate reasons to question the continued operation of Seabrook Station.”
The NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board has granted C-10’s petition to intervene in a regulatory hearing regarding the Seabrook nuclear power plant’s safety and operating license.
Pictured are Sarah Doenmez, Pat Skibee and Chris Nord of C-10 during testimony via video conference.