Questions about degraded concrete at the Seabrook Nuclear Power Station have prompted three Massachusetts lawmakers to call for a delay in the coastal New Hampshire facility's federal relicensing.
In a Jan. 18 letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Sens. Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren joined U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton to ask that a license amendment for Seabrook be stayed until a hearing can be held this summer on the concrete problems and whether they pose a safety hazard.
"There is no reason why the Seabrook license amendment should be approved before the hearing occurs," the letter reads.
Seabrook owner NextEra is expected to receive a 20-year operating license renewal from the commission at the end of January. NextEra needs a separate license amendment -- related to the concrete -- which it will receive sometime this week, the commission announced on Jan. 11.
Structural concrete at the plant suffers from alkali-silica reaction, or ASR, a condition made worse by exposure to moisture. The swelling and cracking was identified by plant operators in 2009.
Over the years, NextEra submitted plans describing how it would monitor and manage the problem while continuing to operate the atomic reactor. In a final safety evaluation report issued in September, the federal commission said it was satisfied with the proposal.
However, a nuclear watchdog group based in Newburyport, Massachusetts -- about five miles from the New Hampshire power plant -- contends that the plan will not be adequate to ensure public safety, and has persuaded a panel of judges to hear its case.
In a 104-page decision, C-10 Research & Education Foundation in 2017 was granted standing to present arguments to the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. While a date has not been set, the board has said a hearing will take place over the summer.
"We're not trying to shut the plant down," said C-10 founding member Christoper S. Nord in a telephone interview. "We are about monitoring the safety of Seabrook. We have been working on this issue nonstop since 2010."
Nord said the NRC would put the cart before the horse by granting a license prior to the safety hearing.
"It's a clear violation of the democratic process, which could affect the lives of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts residents for decades to come," Nord said. "What on earth is the hurry? We won standing to litigate our opposition. What are they so afraid of?"
C-10 has hired an expert witness to refute claims made by NextEra, Nord said. He said that NextEra's "unprecedented methodologies" for testing the concrete should be subject to independent peer review.
"Seabrook is the only nuclear power plant in the country where ASR has been identified -- which does not mean it's the only plant where it exists," he said. "Their methods deserve public scrutiny."
NextEra's proposal has been deemed "proprietary" by the NRC, and as such is largely shielded from public view, Nord said. C-10, as an intervenor, was given confidential access to that information for the purposes of litigation.
In their letter, Markey, Warren and Moulton stopped short of criticizing any aspect of NextEra's concrete monitoring and management plan. But they did say that because contentions raised by C-10 "have not yet been heard or properly assessed" that "public safety could be threatened by a premature approval of the license amendment."
"Even if the license amendment can be changed retroactively following the hearing, it is unacceptable that the NRC plans to approve the license amendment and grant a 20-year license renewal before the community publicly shares its concerns about how NextEra will measure, monitor, and address ASR-related structural degradation at Seabrook," the lawmakers wrote.
Neil Sheehan, public affairs officer for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Tuesday the NRC is reviewing the correspondence from Markey, Warren and Moulton, and "will respond to it in a timely manner."
Sheehan said NRC staff conducted a lengthy review of NextEra's plan to manage the ASR issues, and found it acceptable. He said an independent board, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, also reviewed the plan, and agreed to a finding of "no significant hazards."
He said with the safety review concluded, the NRC is authorized by statute and regulation to issue a license amendment and a renewed operating license.
Following any judicial ruling this summer, the federal commission "will take action with respect to the amendment in accordance with the decision," said Sheehan.
Members of the New Hampshire congressional delegation also recently wrote to the NRC regarding Seabrook and urged greater opportunities for public comment before the license renewal is issued.
"It is imperative that New Hampshire residents have ample time to review, understand, and weigh decisions that will impact their lives," reads the letter from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Sen. Margaret Wood Hassan, and Rep. Chris Pappas.
A NextEra spokesman said the NRC has held public meetings on the Seabrook relicensing, and that the company "expects public conversations to continue."
"License renewal is important for protecting the role of Seabrook Station as a regional asset and a producer of clean, reliable and low-cost electricity to New England," the spokesman said.
The news comes as the state of Connecticut seeks to buy power from two nuclear plants, including Seabrook. Connecticut utilities last month awarded long-term "zero carbon" energy contracts to Seabrook in New Hampshire and to Millstone in Connecticut.
Seabrook's current license is due to expire in 2030, but plant operators, about a decade ago, started an early renewal process. With a new license in hand, the 1,244-megawatt power plant -- the largest single generating unit in New England -- will be authorized to operate until 2050.