SEABROOK, NH (CBS) – It’s a form of concrete mining sometimes called concrete cancer, and a nuclear watchdog group says it has affected several structures at the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant.
“Seabrook is the first US reactor known to have this problem,” said Natalie Hildt Treat, executive director of the C-10 Research and Education Foundation.
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The facility and the NRC, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, have been monitoring the matter for years. Only recently, federal agencies found that the cracked concrete had grown. Hildt Treat calls it slow, “but definitely advancing”.
The NRC says it’s a single structure, limited and there’s plenty of time to fix it. In August, the NRC NextEra Energy Resources, the owners of Seabrook, issued a breach of the progression of decomposing concrete in the building of the control and the diesel generator.
NextEra declined the I-Team’s repeated requests for an interview and factory visits and instead issued a statement stating that the problem was related to the level of information in an assessment report and that there was no problem with the ASR itself.
Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant (WBZ-TV)
ASR, or alkali-silica reaction, is the condition that can develop in cement, causing concrete to swell and crack, where water and moisture can penetrate and cause structural problems.
The NRC called it a finding of “very little concern”. “Apart from this small finding that we mentioned, our program received a clean health certificate.
James Lambrechts, professor at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, says ASR is certainly a problem. “The longer you let it run, the bigger the cracks, the deeper the problem becomes,” said Lambrechts.
When Natalie Hildt Treat visited the factory a few years ago, she said she could see the moisture and the “spider pattern”.
The NRC tells the I-Team that the structures are safe. Upon his inspection in August, his report found that one structure was making limited progress and was slow enough for NextEra to have time to devise a plan to resolve the problem.
Nuclear watchdog group C-10, an organization that has been at odds with Seabrook for decades, has operated a radiation monitoring system around the power plant for nearly 30 years. The data recorded in real time and sent to the state has never shown high levels of radiation exposure.
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While surveillance is helpful, Senator Ed Markey questions the lack of federal standards or regulations for ASR surveillance in nuclear power plants and calls for greater NRC surveillance on Seabrook.
“I still don’t think they’ve gone far enough to monitor the concrete if it starts to crumble,” said Senator Markey. “I think there is a lot more you should do.”
Hidlt Treat, executive director of C-10, who lives in the area with her family and also wants to take a closer look at Seabrook, says she thinks and hopes the facility is safe.
The NRC informs the I-Team that the affected structures are still able to fulfill their safety function. And the agency also says it has resident inspectors who will continue to monitor the concrete on a regular basis. In an email to the I-Team, NextEra said that “Seabrook Station is by far the largest source of clean energy in New England”.
Full opinion from NRC:
An August NRC inspection report for Seabrook documented an ASR-related finding that NextEra failed to consider the ASR growth rate data for a structure. The specific locations were in two underground corridors and a wall in the control and diesel generator building. The topic was classified as “green”, so it has very little safety-related significance, since the structures can continue to fulfill their safety function. As such, NextEra will now take action to address the issue and NRC inspectors will be following up these activities.
The NRC inspectors noted that NextEra was following the NRC approved methodology for monitoring and assessing structures affected by ASR, but NextEra’s assessment was not aimed at ensuring that the areas remained functional, given the continued growth of ASR.
NRC continues to have confidence in the ASR monitoring and evaluation program.
You asked about the progression of ASR. The NRC inspectors’ review of the data for most structures found trends which indicated that there were minor changes. The rate of progress for one structure discussed in the inspection report is unexpected but limited. However, the rate is so high that NextEra has time to develop mitigating strategies and corrective actions if necessary. Our auditors found that the structures concerned were able to fulfill their safety function at all times.
Should we find that the safety of the structures is in any way incapable of fulfilling their safety function, we would intervene, up to and including the system shutdown.
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The NRC will continue to appoint technical inspectors and subject matter experts from our headquarters with a background in materials, concrete and structures to regularly inspect and review concrete degradation at Seabrook. In addition, our on-site inspectors, who are our independent “eyes and ears” in the factory, conduct factory tours, monitor daily activities and conduct inspections with regard to structures affected by ASR. Our inspection results are documented in inspection reports that are publicly available on our website.
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