Friday, March 1, 2002

Seabrook Station forum at PEA will address safety concerns

By Adam Groff,

EXETER — Seacoast residents concerned about security at Seabrook Station can attend a public discussion on the nuclear plant next Thursday evening, March 7, at Phillips Exeter Academy.

The school will host a panel discussion sponsored by the Seacoast Anti-Pollution League (SAPL) entitled "Living with our Nuclear Neighbor at Seabrook in an Age of Terrorism."

SAPL field director Jennifer Hicks said she thinks the forum is timely.

"Since (the federal government) said that nuclear plants would be a terrorist target, it seems to me this would be the time to try to connect with the public," said Hicks.

There have been two other forums on the nuclear plant since Sept. 11, sponsored by the Seabrook watchdog group C-10 Research and Education Foundation, but they have been held in Newburyport, Mass., and were not well attended by New Hampshire residents.

"The C-10 forums were well done, and it has inspired us to follow suit," said Hicks.

In fact, next Thursday's event has many of the same panelists as the Newburyport forums: attorney Bob Backus of SAPL, Paul Gunter of Washington, D.C.-based Nuclear Information Resource Service, C-10 Executive Director Sandra Gavutis, and Seabrook Station spokesman Alan Griffith. The new face is the state government representative, New Hampshire Office of Emergency Management (NHOEM) Acting Director Donald Bliss.

Hicks said she did not succeed in securing the attendance of a representative from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Backus, Gunter and Gavutis are outspoken critics of nuclear power. At the C-10 forums, Griffith and Massachusetts state officials were subjected to sometimes heated grilling from residents in attendance concerned about such issues as the availability of potassium iodide tablets, which block some of the effects of radiation, and the efficacy of emergency evacuation plans.

Griffith said this week that he accepts the level of scrutiny.

"I think it's very important that the public gets the opportunity to ask questions, to air concerns, to get answers," said Griffith. "It's never easy to face a hostile audience, but I think the bottom line is we all want the same thing: a safe and secure nuclear plant."

SAPL, however, would prefer no nuclear plant. Hicks explained that the Portsmouth-based group was formed in 1969 to try to prevent the Seabrook facility from ever being built. She said the group takes credit for preventing, through its legal efforts, one of the two reactors that were originally planned at the site from going on line.

"So now our issue is keeping it from being used as a weapon against the citizens in our state," she said.

Last month, U.S. intelligence agencies issued an alert that terrorists may target U.S. nuclear facilities in a manner similar to the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

In contrast to the critical reception given to Massachusetts emergency management officials by the public, Hicks had words of praise for New Hampshire's Bliss, saying he has been "very helpful" in taking the time to meet with SAPL and listen to their ideas about potassium iodide distribution.

Earlier this month, in an abrupt change of posture, Gov. Jean Shaheen said she would take the NRC up on its offer to supply potassium iodide to states with nuclear power plants. The NHOEM is charged with developing a distribution plan for the drug, which would be made available in case of a nuclear emergency to residents within 10 miles of Seabrook Station or the Vermont Yankee nuclear plan.

Hicks said the panelists Thursday night will each have five to 10 minutes to give an opening statement, and then the audience will have about 45 minutes to ask questions. She also said emergency management personnel from Seacoast towns have been invited to be part of the audience.

The forum will be held in Phillips Exeter's Academy Hall on Front Street and will start at 7 p.m. It is free and open to the public. For more information, call Jennifer Hicks at 431-5089.