Mar 19 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Katie Curley The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass.

A local watchdog group is raising new concerns about the safety of the Seabrook Power Plant after the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission found cracked weld alloys on water pressurizers similar to those at Seabrook Station.

The latest discoveries come after the NRC last week noted the flaw and said some plants -- including Seabrook -- may need to shut down in order to repair the problem. The plant is located off Route 1, about five miles north of downtown Newburyport.

"Our research activities recently gave us new information that raises some questions about whether the eight plants can continue to run until their next scheduled shutdown," James Wiggins, acting director of the NRC's office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, said in a press release. "New data from inspectors of similar welds indicates those plants may need to take action sooner."

The Newburyport-based C-10 group, which monitors radiological emissions from the plant, is asking why the NRC didn't shut the plant down immediately, noting the problem is something well documented throughout the power industry.

"The NRC has known about this problem since 2000," C-10 spokeswoman Debbie Grinnell said. "They have not had the kind of inspection like they had at the St. Lucie Plant (in Florida)."

The St. Lucie Plant in Hutchinson Island, Fla., is owned by the same company that owns the Seabrook plant. It suffered problems with reactor coolant pumps and was shut down in January. The NRC said the severity of the problems could compromise the running of the plant.

Though C-10 is calling for answers from the NRC, spokesman for the NRC Scott Brunell said the decision to keep Seabrook open came after comprehensive evaluation of the problem.

"The NRC has looked at the issue at a significant level of detail, and our staff is satisfied Seabrook is safe and can safely continue until the scheduled outage in a few weeks," Brunell said. "We were looking at certain welds in the reactors. When the plants were built, they had to attach two different kinds of steel and used a certain alloy, which over time has shown under some conditions it can crack, and of course we don't want those cracks to affect safety."

The NRC Thursday held an executive meeting, after which NRC officials decided the welds of the pressurized water reactors could wait until Seabrook's spring shutdown before any modifications need to be made.

"We always want safety first, but we don't want to make a decision on incomplete data," Brunell said. "After receiving additional information a couple of days later, we decided there is no safety issue and we will wait until spring to do any studies. We are very sure things will stay safe until our scheduled shutdown."

Seabrook Station, like stations across the country, has scheduled shutdowns every 18 months in order to perform routine maintenance. The shutdowns alternate between spring and fall months and are kept classified in order to stay competitive, according to spokesman for the plant Al Griffith.

At Seabrook Station, Griffith said, the problem with the welds is an industry issue that has been monitored over the years, and no safety issues are present.

"We are one of the plants entering our refueling outage, and we received an extension based on the fact our outage is in the spring," Griffith said. "Further analysis and work on the pressurizers will be done then, but no repairs will be made. We are performing modifications on the welds."

Brunell notes the NRC inspectors at the plant constantly monitor the plant for safety and compliance to NRC codes and that the public is under no risk. But Grinnell and C-10 say it is the enforcement of the safety codes that is not happening.

"We are a public watchdog group, and the NRC is not requiring Seabrook to comply with American industry standards," Grinnell said.

Welds on the pressurizers, which allow a small amount of steam to escape in order to keep the reactor's coolant system at the appropriate pressure, are the cause for concern at Seabrook as well as seven other power plants across the United States. Alloys holding the weld together have shown evidence of degradation over time and stress.

According to NRC data, power plant components are made of both carbon and stainless steel, two metals not typically welded together. Because of this, the two metals used two different types of alloys, which in the past have been susceptible to cracking due to the intense pressure the alloys receive from daily operating, welding and their chemical makeup.

"We don't shut down unless there is a reason based on sound engineering," Griffith said. "If there was a reason to shut down, we would. We have in the past, and we will again. We are not shy about doing that, but it's not the case here."