Nuclear plant's future owners stress safety

BY ADAM GROFF

SEABROOK - Once it takes over, the company under agreement to buy Seabrook Station will focus on reducing the duration of refueling outages at the nuclear plant, maintaining high security, and improving overall efficiency, a top official said Tuesday.

Florida-based energy conglomerate FPL Group announced April 15 its intent to buy an 88 percent stake in Seabrook Station for $837 million, pending state and federal regulatory approval.

In an interview Tuesday, Art Stall, senior vice president of FPL's nuclear division, said completion of the sale is expected by Thanksgiving.

Stall called Seabrook "one of the best nuclear plants that's ever come to auction."

He said his company has looked at other nuclear plants, but chose Seabrook because of its compatible "safety culture," the condition of its physical assets, and its level of security and emergency preparedness.

A publicly traded company with revenues of more than $8 billion last year, FPL Group is focused primarily on generating energy from renewable resources such as wind and the sun, but it also operates two nuclear plants in Florida, Turkey Point and St. Lucie, each with dual reactors.

Seabrook Station is undergoing its eighth refueling outage since it began operating in 1990. Plant spokesman Alan Griffith said last week the goal is to complete the delicate process in about a month - the current industry average.

Stall said Tuesday that Turkey Point completed its most recent refueling in less than 16 days. He attributed the rapid completion to detailed advance planning that allows the company to "do in 15 days what we once did in 50."

Stall reiterated earlier statements from the company pledging that plant employees will be protected from layoffs for one year after FPL assumes ownership. FPL also will not complete the unfinished second reactor at the plant, although it could construct some other type of power generating facility there, he said.

Stall said the company is in the process of meeting with local government and community groups, including anti-nuclear organizations like the Seacoast Anti-Pollution League and C-10 Research and Education Foundation.

"We respect their opinions," he said, "but the plant is there, and we're going to continue operating it in a safe and secure manner."

Stall, a FPL company spokeswoman and a company lawyer met with SAPL and C-10 Tuesday. SAPL director Jennifer Hicks said the meeting was a positive but inconclusive gesture.

"We explained that we've had a long history with Seabrook that's been rough and unsatisfying," said Hicks, "and that especially since Sept. 11, we're concerned about security at the plant."

She said SAPL and C-10 both stated their goal of establishing independent radiological monitoring sites in the area, paid for by the plant.

"Art Stall said he didn't necessarily support yet another monitoring system, and he'd rather spend the money to ensure that there are no problems inside the plant," she said.

Hicks said while the FPL representatives pledged to meet with them again, there was "no acknowledgment that they heard what we were saying."

FPL Group generates more than 80 percent of its electricity from "clean" or renewable fuels. Clean fuels designate those that do not emit air pollutants. It operates the two largest solar plants in the world in California, and is the nation's largest developer of wind energy generation facilities. The company also owns 29 hydroelectric facilities in Maine, and has received a number of environmental awards.

The state Public Utilities Commission is holding public hearings on the proposed sale from July 15 through 18, at which interested groups will make arguments for or against the transaction. According to PUC general counsel Gary Epler, those groups include SAPL, the Campaign for Ratepayers' Rights, the Conservation Law Foundation, Public Service of New Hampshire, and FPL Group. Epler said the PUC is expected to decide by August whether to approve the sale.