cover image Seabrook Station

Seabrook Station

Henry F. Bedford. University of Massachusetts Press, $37.5 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-87023-711-9

In 1972, the Public Service Company of New Hampshire applied for approval to build a nuclear generating station at Seabrook; 17 years later, low-power testing began at the plant. The intervening years saw court battles that challenged the licensing and regulatory processes. Bedford ( Trouble Downtown ) here presents a well-documented history of the issues in a compelling, disturbing study of corporate mismanagement, bureaucratic obduracy and citizen involvement. He discusses environmental concerns and the accompanying opposition; he notes that the citizens groups failed to prevent licensing because they lacked funds, scientific expertise and political power. He analyzes the financial and managerial problems that beset the Public Service Company; his account of emergency planning illustrates the gulf between federal systems planners and local people. Bedford concludes that the Seabrook Station is a ``five-billion-dollar mess'' due to cost overruns and the possibility that the station is unnecessary in any case. Illustrated. (July)