P.M. BRIEFING : Seabrook Shutdown Investigated

SEABROOK, N.H. — Technicians at the Seabrook nuclear power plant were working today to determine the reason for the $6.5-billion facility’s first automatic shutdown, a spokesman said.

Seabrook was operating at 30% power, producing about 210 megawatts of power, when its turbine automatically shut down at 4:38 p.m. Wednesday. Plant spokesman Rob Williams said that when the turbine disconnected itself from the New England power grid, the reactor also shut down automatically.

Williams said that automatic shutdowns are a normal part of a nuclear plant’s operations but that operators did not know what caused it. When the cause is determined, operators will review operations before restarting it, he said.