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January 31, 2013

No evacuation possible

Newburyport Daily News

To the editor:

Your article, “Seabrook reviews evacuation times” (Jan. 18), provides an excellent opportunity for a full public discussion about evacuation planning for the Seabrook nuclear power plant — let’s begin!

Our hard-working emergency management officials cannot do their job if they are not notified of a radiological emergency by the Seabrook plant. During an April 17-19, 2012 exercise, the Seabrook plant failed to notify emergency management officials that an NRC-simulated radiological emergency test had occurred at the plant, according to an NRC violation announcement Aug. 17, 2012.

Who cares what NextEra says about too-good-to be-true evacuation times when the plant failed to notify emergency management officials of a simulated radiological release? If this had been a real radiological release, the plant would have placed area families at risk for a catastrophe.

In fact, the Seabrook plant admitted to the error. That’s just great, but after 20 years the control room should be able to identify a radiological emergency. If the Seabrook plant fails to notify emergency management officials during a period of regulatory scrutiny such as during the relicensing process, can the plant be trusted to do so in a real emergency?

Since the Seabrook nuclear plant has clearly failed the most basic safety test — failure to identify a radiological release — the NRC must consider whether the plant can be safely operated at all.

Dwight and Karen Alger

Newburyport

for No More Fukushimas!

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