Seabrook Station: Serious Structural Situation

"To regulate" means to make regular. Federal agencies are set up to (0.00 / 0)

provide aid and comfort to the entities they supervise. And besides, as Justice Kennedy says, "the issuance of a permit is not a matter of grace."  By which he means it's a right. The activity being permitted is presumed to be good; the provision of electricity is a social benefit. That the potential costs are not adequately calculated and likely to be paid by people who don't benefit is not a matter that's historically been considered.  That our public assets have been systematically converted into private wealth is the consequence, but I don't think it was intended to begin with.  The people who came up with cost/benefit analysis just didn't notice that parties being affected were not the same. Besides, the intent to be socially beneficial makes it so (like bringing democracy to Iraq).

That the concrete is deteriorating is not surprising. I've been waiting for it since the plant was built.  It's very difficult to pour concrete and have it cure properly in sub-freezing weather.  Not to mention that, as was also the case with the Challenger 'O' rings, the effect of temperature fluctuations on various materials is often not adequately taken into account. And it's always the water that's the problem with nuclear plants -- that and the endemic fact that the temperatures generated by the reaction are too high to be handled by the furnace absent constant cooling.  Water is a tricky substance since temperature makes it shift shape from a liquid to a solid or a gas.
Things that are too hot to handle should probably be left alone.
Seabrook Station is now owned by Florida Power and Light, based in Tampa.  The people running that company know next to nothing about freezing.  They do know they need more money and that's why they want a permit extension.  Permits, remember, are rights and rights are worth money.  Having rights recognized by our public corporations is valuable.  That's why couples want to have their marriages recognized.

Perhaps what we need to do is determine that some private enterprise is presumably too hazardous and needs to be outlawed.  

---

by: hannah @ Wed Jul 20, 2011 at 09:13:40 AM UTC

Throw in a hurricane (4.00 / 1)

or other violent weather pumped up by climate change, the rising sea levels, an existing fault in the area, and you have a nasty mess that will be hard to get away from.  
However, if the license renewal is not granted, then the thing has to be shut down, which is another monster project in itself.  I think these things need to go and soon, before we face the problems that Japan is dealing with.  It's a little easier, physically, to close them down if there is no disaster.  Of course it is harder politically.  But then we have created a government that makes everything that doesn't make a ton of money for some millionaires and billionaires hard to do.

---

by: Lucy Edwards @ Wed Jul 20, 2011 at 10:11:04 AM UTC

Ask Mr. Deep-Pockets Guinta (0.00 / 0)

what he's planning to do about this problem.

---

by: mevansnh @ Wed Jul 20, 2011 at 20:25:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

As a gentle reminder: (4.00 / 2)

This year a REPUBLICAN state rep sponsored a bill that would have had NH monitor radiation levels at Seabrook.

But the House of O'Brien shot it down, reportedly because they trust NextEra to do all the monitoring themselves.

Accountability!

http://birchpaper.com/post/413...

birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker

---

by: Dean Barker @ Wed Jul 20, 2011 at 13:21:28 PM UTC

thanks Dean (4.00 / 1)

Ouch. Yep, NextEra does a fine job of monitoring and the NRC is right on top of things.

That explains why there hasn't been a viable evacuation plan for 22 years, and counting.

Burt - you're absolutely right. We did tell them so. We were right. And I heard those stories about beer bottle caps, etc. in the containment vessel, too.  

---

by: susanthe @ Wed Jul 20, 2011 at 23:57:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Not to say We Told You So But (4.00 / 3)

We told you so.

Anti-Seabrook forces were right--on everything.

And now PSNH is looking to another huge centralized "solution," Northern Pass. Since the 1970s we've been saying the answer is in a mix of small decentralized sustainable facilities combined with retro-fitting wasteful factories and buildings. It was all do obvious back then as it remains today.

The concrete of course becomes brittle, from age, weather, and radiation. And I don't know about those stories of workers mixing beer bottles into the concrete containment vessel.

The only time it's too late to shut a plant down is after excessive radiation.

And wouldn't it be nice if regulators actually regulated?

No'm Sayn?

---

by: BurtCohen @ Wed Jul 20, 2011 at 20:15:47 PM UTC

Where's the NH Democratic Party leadership on this issue? (4.00 / 1)

NH Dems need to get party leaders and legislators to stand up to Seabrook just like activists got the Vermont Democratic Party to stand up to Entergy. Nuclear should have no part in NH's energy future especially since Seabrook is falling apart now.

NH Dems know better not to support something like Seabrook.  

---

by: NH Ex-pat @ Fri Jul 22, 2011 at 13:07:18 PM UTC

Excellent Point, Ex-pat (0.00 / 0)

Just as people of all political stripes are standing up to the power grab of Northern Pass, so must we now put pressure on all state candidates to not only fight fiercely against the outrageous re-licensing, but to shut Seabrook down! In politics as in electric energy: decentralize power!

No'm Sayn?

---

by: BurtCohen @ Sat Jul 23, 2011 at 14:11:49 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Craigslist Vancouver (0.00 / 1)

i think this is really a serious structural situation of sea brook.i appreciate your post.you discus a good point in this post and explain very well.i like to read informative blogs and this blog is also so good and helpful.thanks for taking time to discus this topic..
Craigslist Vancouver

---

by: craigslista2z @ Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 12:17:44 PM UTC