Published: 08/11/2007 Seabrook plant won't pay for 'reverse 911' By Katie Farrell Staff writer
AMESBURY - Seabrook Station nuclear power plant won't foot the bill for installing a "Reverse 911" phone system in Amesbury - a system that local officials hoped the plant would pay for following a false-alarm scare last month. Alan Griffith, a spokesman for the power plant, said yesterday Seabrook Station already has a comprehensive emergency plan in place that's been approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the state. The emergency plan depends largely on using sirens to notify residents within 10 miles of the plant, and includes protocols for contacting the media and using emergency broadcasts to issue information. Mass notification systems - commonly referred to by a product name, "Reverse 911" - is considered a "supplemental notification tool" outside the established emergency plan that's already been approved, Griffith said. "That's why we don't fund it," he said. "We already have one in place," Griffith said. "Nobody's debating the merits of Reverse 911, we're not saying it doesn't make sense. The issue is one of funding." Congressman John Tierney and state and local officials will meet at Seabrook Station later this month to discuss problems that surfaced after one of the plant's Amesbury sirens falsely sounded late at night on July 13. Frightened citizens were unsure whether the siren was signaling a real emergency and flooded the police station telephone line with calls to get more information. Others turned to the radio - a procedure outlined in the emergency packet given by the power plant - but they received no information. The station's procedures state that in a real emergency the broadcast stations would be given information. Because it was not a real emergency, there was no update. In the event of an emergency, Griffith said, all 121 sirens in the 23 towns that are within a 10 mile radius of the power station would sound. Mayor Thatcher Kezer said yesterday there is a need in Amesbury for mass notification technology because of its proximity to the power station. He also said such as system could be used by the schools and to issue notices about road closures. "There are a number of uses for it," he said. Installing a mass notification system in Amesbury will be around $20,000, Kezer said. Whether Seabrook Station does pay for the notification system will be part of discussions, Kezer said.
"Again, that's all a matter of some negotiation," he said. "There are needs for the system particular to being a neighbor of the power plant and needs (related to) other general municipal services." Griffith said yesterday it's very rare for an alarm to malfunction. "There's been two or three of these malfunctions in almost 20 years," he said. "So it's something that happens very, very rarely." "It was one siren, it was obviously an isolated incident," Griffith said. Griffith said the plant was not at fault for the failure to alert the media that no emergency existed at the plant. The state is responsible for overseeing the overall management of the emergency plan, Griffith added. In the days after the false alarm, state emergency management officials announced a change to their policies, so that in the event of accidental alarm-siren activations the agency would contact major radio stations and the Associated Press.
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