Seabrook Foes Happy After 717 Arrests During Protests

Opponents of nuclear power rejoiced Monday over their three-day demonstration against the Seabrook nuclear power plant, which resulted in 717 arrests, and said it marks a new beginning for the movement.

But plant officials called the protests an inconvenience staged for the media as plant personnel prepared the reactor for low-power testing this week.

Ninety arrests were made Monday as protesters blocked gates to prevent employees from getting to work. On Sunday, police made 627 arrests after demonstrators swarmed over and under fences surrounding the plant.

“The Clamshell’s back and they’re gonna be sorry,” Roy Morrison, a member of the Clamshell Alliance that organized the protest, said of Seabrook supporters.

Seabrook officials contend that the demonstrators are a minority, and the officials note that the $6-billion plant is on the verge of its first nuclear chain reaction after winning a low-power testing license last month.

Plant spokesman Ron Sher said most New Englanders believe that the plant is safe, necessary and ready to produce power.

Seabrook has been in the first stages of low-power testing for about a week, slowly warming the reactor while engineers prepare to withdraw control rods and allow the first nuclear chain reaction.

However, the seaside plant still lacks a commercial operating license because it lacks federal approval of evacuation plans for the area in case of an emergency. And a planned second reactor was canceled because of financial strain.

Low-power testing had been planned for today or Wednesday, but Sher said plant officials now plan to start testing the reactor sometime after Wednesday because a valve failed in a pump during the weekend.

Police Chief Paul Cronin said the high number of arrests does not paint an accurate picture of the strength of the protest, noting that 75 to 100 people were arrested twice Sunday and that perhaps 15 were arrested for a third or fourth time Monday.