1. The Seabrook Saga: A case study
Nuclear Energy
The Seabrook Saga: A case study

2. The Facts Seabrook, New Hampshire Initial proposal in 1972
Proposed building of nuclear power plant: 2 twin reactors, 7 year construction
$973 million

3. Why Seabrook? Perfect location Could use Atlantic Ocean for cooling
Strong bedrock to hold up factory
Near Boston, could provide millions with energy

4. Resistance Many people opposed the idea
In 1974 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts began legal action to stop the construction of the plant
After two years of legal battles ground breaking started in 1976.
In May of people demonstrated on the building site and 1400 were arrested
In 1990 the Nuclear Regulator Commission gave them the ok to start

5. So what happened 2 twin reactors 7 year process $973 million cost
One was built
14 years once started (18 total)
$6.45 billion cost
Currently supplies 900,000 homes with power
900 acre site

6. Seabrook Facts
Produces 1160 megawatts of power from a few pounds of Uranium
=1,850,000 gallons of oil
=10,000 tons (20,000,000 lbs) of coal
Converts 33,000 gallons of liquid water into water vapor every minute
398,000 gal of water flow through a tunnel 19 feet in diameter, 3 miles long, 100 feet below the ocean floor
Change in water temperature is 20C

7. What happens when things go wrong?
Chernobyl, 1979 in Ukraine
Reactor 4 was deliberately shut down for safety test
Temp rose too quickly, fire and chemical reactions followed
4,000 ton roof (8 mil pounds) blew off

8. People affected by Chernobyl
190 people got sick and 31 died from radiation
150,000 people evacuated
260,000 exposed to life-shortening amounts of radiation
30,000 people have died as a result

9. Risks/Benefits Expensive to build Urban myths and scare tactics
Chernobyl and Three Mile Island
Less need for fossil fuels
No air pollution, global warming, acid rain
Save money in the long run

10. Power plants = Weapons Plants
The uranium in plants could not be easily used for weapons
Plutonium is the problem
Iran and North Korea are/were stockpiling Uranium for power plants, but U.N. inspectors were not allowed into these plants to see where the excess Pu was going

11. How radioisotopes make energy
Alpha Decay: 42He
Lowest amount of energy
Same as Helium nucleus
Beta Decay: 0-1
Energy that can be stopped by a cinder block wall
Equal in mass but opposite charge to electron
Gamma Decay: 00
Highest amount of energy
Too much can be deadly
Cosmic radiation---not enough to hurt you