...and postponing any action on Seabrook
March 27, 2011
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New Hampshire’s 20-year-old Seabrook Station is the newest — and in some ways, safest — nuclear plant in the Boston area, using more advanced designs than the region’s older plants. Seabrook does not have the same reactor type as the Japanese plants and, crucially, its pool for spent fuel is of a safer design.
Seabrook already has a license for 19 more years. But under an oddly generous NRC policy, the plant is hustling to get its license extended for an additional 20 years. Granting that would be foolhardy.
It is impossible to predict technology. While Seabrook may seem state-of-the-art now, by 2030, when the original license expires, its safety measures could well be outdated. The NRC owes it to the public to assess the extension based on what’s known about nuclear safety in 2030, not 2011.
