Current Issues

SAPL has had a long history as a watchdog-defending the seacoast-area environment for more than 30 years. Here's just some of the issues the group has worked on recently.

Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant
SAPL has been heavily focused on the safety and security of the Seabrook plant, especially since the Sept. 11 tragedy. Through meetings with our emergency management officials, ongoing media coverage, and letters and phone calls to our representatives, SAPL has made it known that we are concerned about the threat of a terrorism activity at the plant and have recommended the following safety plan:

SAPL's 7-Point Safety and Security Program for the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant

1. Deploy National Guard units with sufficient anti-terrorism training and weaponry that protects the plant from attack from the ground, air, and water.
2. Implement a "No Fly-Zone" in the greater power plant vicinity.
3. Establish a tighter background check for all plant employees and outside suppliers.
4. Review security protection of radioactive waste materials stored on site and call for upgrades and improvements as needed.
5. Review adequacy of the current evacuation plan and require stockpiling of Potassium Iodide in schools, receiving areas, and pharmacies within the so-called "10 mile radius" around the Seabrook plant.
6. Require that the plant be in either "stand down" or "shut down" modes during a terrorist threat.
7. Require that all bidders of the Seabrook plant provide evidence of their capabilities to protect the plant from the new heightened threat of terrorism.

SAPL played a key role in getting New Hampshire to reverse a long-standing policy against distributing potassium iodide (KI) to residents within the 10-mile evacuation zones surrounding Seabrook Station and Vermont Yankee. In the event of a nuclear accident, KI can help protect people, particularly children, from thyroid cancer and other thyroid diseases. The action helped pave the way for other states to follow suit.

SAPL called attention to the illegal killing of federally protected seals in the Seabrook Nuclear Power Station's cooling tunnels--winning a reprieve for countless more seals that would have been fatally trapped inside the tunnels had the practice continued.

SAPL also monitors the impact of Seabrook Nuclear Power Station on the people and ecosystems in our region.