Town Out of Bounds on Plan for A-Plant

A judge ruled Friday that state civil defense officials can overrule a town meeting decision in developing an emergency evacuation plan for the Seabrook nuclear plant.

Superior Court Judge Joseph Nadeau said that “the power of (a) town meeting is not limitless.” He ruled that local refusal to cooperate or to approve the emergency plan cannot keep civil defense officials from carrying out their duties to follow such a plan.

A group of Exeter residents had asked Nadeau to uphold a 1983 town-meeting decision that approval of the town’s participation in the emergency planning should be put to a popular vote.