Decade-Late Seabrook Nuclear Plant at Full Power for 1st Time
The Seabrook nuclear plant, focus of debate over atomic energy, has reached full power for the first time.
The $6.6-billion reactor--among the nation’s most expensive--went to full throttle at 9:52 p.m. Thursday, plant spokesman Ron Sher said today. The plant generated 1,150 megawatts, electricity for 1 million New England homes.
It’s the most important milestone yet for the decade-late project and another setback for anti-nuclear activists whose mass civil disobedience demonstrations had made Seabrook a symbol of their movement.
“Reaching full power fulfills the dream we have all worked so hard to achieve,” said Edward Brown, president of the plant’s operator, New Hampshire Yankee.
For plant opponents, the milestone was the latest in a series of disappointments since the Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave Seabrook a commercial operating license in March.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
