Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990 TAG: 9003023170
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ROCKVILLE, MD. LENGTH: Medium
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 3-0 to grant a license for Seabrook to operate at full power, but delayed issuing it for two weeks to allow an expected appeal in federal court.
Two of the commission's five members abstained from the vote because of involvement in Seabrook issues prior to becoming commissioners.
Opponents have long maintained that people near the plant would be trapped in a nuclear emergency, and officials in Massachusetts, with a border just two miles from Seabrook, said they would indeed take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington.
Foes also claimed a broader victory, contending that as a result of the long fight against Seabrook, no utility would be willing to risk the monetary and other costs of trying to build and open another nuclear plant.
The commission's ruling ratified recommendations by its staff and several lower-level boards that the plant is safe and that evacuation plans would work.
However, Massachusetts Attorney General James Shannon said, "We will be in court in the next few days. There has never been a licensing issue which has been so legally vulnerable."
Massachusetts officials along with New Hampshire anti-nuclear groups have coordinated the Seabrook opposition.
At the white-domed plant overlooking the Atlantic ocean, 75 protesters sang and chanted slogans, and 10 blocked the plant gate by sitting down in the driveway. When they refused to leave, they were arrested. Another Seabrook opponent was arrested when he posted a sign that read "Shame" over one posted by plant workers reading "License Approved!"
At the NRC meeting, utility executives hugged each other after the ruling while Seabrook opponents said that their fight against Seabrook had helped stall the nuclear power industry.
While opponents had expected Thursday's vote, they said the losing battle over Seabrook should help win a larger war against nuclear power.
"The price paid to finally secure Seabrook's license has been so great that no utility will ever again be willing to risk the high economic costs, the bad public relations and the protracted political fight necessary to bring a nuclear power plant on line," said Ken Bossong of Public Citizen, one of several groups opposed to Seabrook.
In the mid-1970s during construction of the plant, thousands of anti-nuclear protesters flocked to Seabrook and hundreds were arrested in acts of civil disobedience. The protests picked up again last summer as the plant drew closer to a full-power license.
The Seabrook construction period was marked by a sharp decline in public and investor support for nuclear power.
by CNB