Officials: Seabrook Evacuation Would Be Chaos

CONCORD, N.H.--Evacuating the popular seacoast area during an accident at the Seabrook nuclear power plant would result in near chaos, officials from coastal communities told federal regulators yesterday.

"I've seen traffic at Hampton Beach from eight in the morning until eight at night, bumper to bumper," Hampton Police Sgt. Victor DeMarco told the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board during hearings on evacuation plans for New Hampshire communities within Seabrook's 10-mile emergency zone.

If there were a nuclear catastrophe, cars parked in the breakdown lanes of the main routes out of Hampton Beach would slow traffic and could result in blocked roads, DeMarco said.

The Hampton Police Association voted in July that the state's emergency response plan is "totally unrealistic, unworkable, and unsupportable."

Hampton Falls Police Chief Andrew Christie said that his staff of two full-time and three part-time officers could not handle traffic control during the busy tourist season.

Walter Shivik, chairman of the South Hampton Board of Selectmen, said his town's part-time police force would have the same problem.

DeMarco said police officers on duty would respond in an emergency despite their opposition to the plans, but he doubted that off-duty officers, who are included in the state's figures as response personnel, would leave their homes and help in the evacuation.

"I think they'd be most concerned about their families," DeMarco said.

Ted Feigenbaum, vice president for engineering and quality programs for New Hampshire Yankee. Seabrook's builder, disputed DeMarco's suggestion.

"People do not panic in an emergency. People pull together," Feigenbaum said. He also dismissed the Hampton officers' conclusion that the evacuation plan is unworkable. He said the beaches can be evacuated. "It's done every weekend afternoon," Feigenbaum said.

About 30 protesters disrupted yesterday's hearings after shouting at the board, prompting the panel to call a recess.

The protesters are angry with the board's decision to bar most public testimony at the hearings. The board is permitting only written testimony from the public, while state and local officials may testify orally.

Yesterday's session, beginning the second week of hearings, focused on the number of workers who would be available to volunteer in an emergency.

Seabrook is loaded with nuclear fuel but has been unable to win an operating license because of evacuation planning problems. Massachusetts has refused to submit emergency plans for six communities within the zone.

The New Hampshire plans have been revised after the Federal Emergency Management Agency found flaws in earlier plans.

Also yesterday, Gov. John Sununu said a bailout plan proposed by a New York group for Seabrook's main owner, Public Service Company of New Hampshire, has some good points.

Consolidated Utilities and Communications Inc., a group of Public Service bond holders, has proposed a rival bailout plan which would freeze electric rates for three years.

Public Service is floundering financially due to its $2.1 billion investment in Seabrook. The company has asked state regulators for a $71 million emergency rate increase to keep it from bankruptcy reorganization.

Although Sununu would not endorse the alternate plan, he told reporters it meets his two main criteria, those of protecting ratepayers and protecting property taxpayers.