NEI Nuclear Notes

The USGS is reporting that a minor earthquake struck Maine near the town of Lake Arrowhead shortly after 7:00 p.m. this evening . The nuclear power plant closest to the epicenter of the quake, Seabrook, which is in the midst of a refueling outage, declared an unusual event in response. The following is an official statement from NextEra Energy, the owner of the plant: This evening, by procedure, Seabrook Station declared an unusual event due to the seismic activity felt throughout the region. An unusual event is the lowest of four Nuclear Regulatory Commission emergency classifications. The plant has been and is currently shut down in a planned refueling outage. There has been no impact to the plant from the earthquake and our outage activities have not been affected in any way. We expect to exit from the unusual event shortly. By way of background, Seabrook is designed to withstand the strongest earthquake ever experienced in New England, and then some. Thanks to the team at N...

Today, the Seabrook Public Library is showing a film that highlights the start of the anti-nuclear power community. The film is about a long-ago protest in 1977 in which activists opposed to nuclear energy tried to occupy the Seabrook plant site during construction. Seabrook finally got built, and in the 22 years since it began producing electricity, it has amassed an impressive record of economic and environmental benefits. Reliable Electricity According to the Energy Information Administration , the Seabrook nuclear power reactor (1,247 MW) is the largest in New England and provided 42 percent of New Hampshire's 2011 electricity generation. Since it began commercial operation in 1990, the unit has produced a total of 189,684,433,000 kilowatt-hours , or more than enough electricity to power New York or Illinois for a year . According to NextEra , its owner, Seabrook generates enough power to supply the annual needs of 1.4 million families and businesses. Environmental B...

SnowDhalia , a neighbor of the Seabrook Nuclear Power Station (pictured at left), is talking about how she changed her mind about nuclear energy : I'm a liberal-environmentalist type, and until a few years ago, I thought my life was pretty good except for one thing: this damn nuclear power plant. It could blow at any moment, was my thought. How would we all escape? When my mother came to visit me from the Midwest, she'd squirrel away a large amount of cash, so when catastrophe struck, I wouldn't have to be stuck in a line at the ATM. I could just stuff my son and my dog in the car, hit the Mass. Pike and get out of Dodge. Then something happened: I actually learned what nuclear power was. Being married to a nuclear engineer helps, apparently. Read the rest right now. UPDATE : Physical Insights likes what he's reading.

We Support Lee takes a look back 30 years at the protest at the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant: The Seabrook facility now provides 1,244 MW of emissions-free electricity for New England. It is now owned by FPL, which is Fortune's Most Admired Electric Utility . FPL is a leader in addressing climate change through emissions reduction . FPL participates in the community and with education, doing such things as training Texas students in wind turbine technology. Pretty good record if you ask me.