NRC Creates Site to Help Locals Understand Nuke Plant Issues

Submitted by Neil Sheehan

Nuclear Regulatory Commission public affairs officer

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has established a page on the agency’s website to consolidate information on concrete degradation at the Seabrook nuclear power plant. Seabrook is a single pressurized-water reactor located in Seabrook, N.H., and operated by NextEra Energy Seabrook, LLC.

Among the items on the web page, which can be found here, are correspondence to and from the NRC regarding the issue, slides from a 2012 public meeting on the topic and graphics illustrating the condition. Information on the issue will be added to the page, as it becomes available.

The concrete degradation at Seabrook is caused by alkali silica reaction, or ASR. This is a chemical combining of reactive silica from the concrete aggregate with the alkali from the cement paste in the presence of moisture (aggregates are inert granular materials, such as sand, gravel or crushed stone that, along with water and cement paste, are an essential ingredient in concrete). The result of the reaction is a gel, which can expand and may cause micro-cracks in the concrete.

[Editor's note: The NRC will hold Tuesday a meeting and open house at One Liberty Lane Conference Center in Hampton to update the public regarding its ongoing reviews of concrete degradation at Seabrook Station. The open house will take place from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m., and the open house will be immediately followed by a public meeting, beginning at 7 p.m., during which NRC staff will provide a presentation on the reviews and take questions from audience members.]