Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant
Encyclopedia
The Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant was a completed General Electric
nuclear boiling water reactor
located adjacent to the Wading River in East Shoreham
, New York
. The plant was built between 1973 and 1984 by the Long Island Lighting Company
(LILCO), but never operated.
In 1983, the Suffolk County
Legislature voted that the county could not be safely evacuated in the event of a serious nuclear accident at the plant, and governor of New York, Mario Cuomo
, ordered state officials not to approve any LILCO-sponsored evacuation plan. The plant was completed in 1984 and in 1985 LILCO received federal permission for low-power 5 percent power tests.
The plant faced considerable public opposition after the 1979 Three Mile Island accident
and the 1986 Chernobyl disaster
. There were large protests and two dozen local groups opposed the plant. In 1981, 43 percent of Long Islanders opposed the plant; by 1986, that number had risen to 74 percent.
On May 19, 1989, LILCO agreed not to operate the plant in a deal with the state under which most of the $6 billion cost of the unused plant was passed on to Long Island residents. In 1992, the Long Island Power Authority
bought the plant from LILCO. The plant was fully decommissioned in 1994.
(LILCO) President John J. Tuohy announced plans for the plant on April 13, 1965 during a stockholder's meeting. The plant was to be the first commercial nuclear power plant
on Long Island and initially had little formal opposition, as Brookhaven already had multiple research nuclear reactors at the Brookhaven National Laboratory
, about 5 miles (8 km) south of Shoreham.
LILCO purchased a 455 acres (1.84 km²) site in an area which was sparsely populated at the time. They announced the plant would produce 540 megawatts, cost between $65 and $75 million and would be online in 1973. At the time, demand for electricity was increasing more than 10 percent per year on Long Island and the Atomic Energy Commission
was strongly pushing all power companies to use nuclear power.
In 1968, LILCO increased the size of the plant from 540 to 820 megawatts and announced plans to build two more reactors in Jamesport
. Those reactors never got beyond the drawing board stage but this helped delay and increase the costs of the plant.
In 1969, LILCO announced plans for a reactor at Lloyd Harbor
in Huntington, New York — closer to Manhattan in a more densely populated area. Following resident opposition, the proposal was dropped in 1970, setting the stage for opposition to any nuclear power plant on Long Island.
The plant was to be situated near the path of airplanes landing at MacArthur Airport and the New Haven Airport. It was also to be built in an area that the U.S. Air Force had designated as "high hazard" due to its proximity to the Calverton Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant
, where Grumman military fighter planes were tested, which was five miles (8 km) from the Shoreham site. The Lloyd Harbor Study Group were concerned that a plane could crash into the plant.
— near the mouth of the small stream that forms the border between Brookhaven and Riverhead
towns — was largely rural at the time (although within 60 miles
of Manhattan
). Cost overruns caused its estimated final cost to approach $2 billion by the late 1970s, due to low worker productivity and design changes ordered by the NRC.
, the Audubon Society and environmentalist Barry Commoner
opposed the issuance of a construction permit for the Shoreham plant. The plant drew considerable opposition after the 1979 Three Mile Island accident
and the 1986 Chernobyl disaster
, resulting in delays and cost increases before New York Governor Mario Cuomo
pulled the plug in a state takeover of the plant. The state would ultimately take over LILCO also.
The first small anti-Shoreham demonstration took place in June 1976. On June 3, 1979, following the Three Mile Island accident
, 15,000 protesters gathered in the largest demonstration in Long Island history. 600 were arrested as they scaled the plant's fences.
LILCO's problems were compounded by NRC rules in the wake of Three Mile Island, requiring that operators of nuclear plants work out evacuation plans in cooperation with state and local governments. Politicians from local entities joined the opposition, saying their communities could not be evacuated quickly in case of an accident, as any land evacuation off the island would involve traveling at least 60 miles (96.6 km) back through New York City to reach its bridges.
Nora Bredes, executive director of the Shoreham Opponents Coalition, was the primary organizer of the grass-roots campaign against Shoreham. She lobbied officials, organized advertising campaigns, wrote pamphlets, and planned rallies. Ms. Bredes drew together more than two dozen local opposition groups which included the Lloyd Harbor Study Group, the Farm Bureau, The Long Island Safe Energy Coalition and its newsletter Chain Reaction, Safe'n Sound with its Sound Times newspaper, and the S.H.A.D. Alliance
(modeled on New Hampshire's Clamshell Alliance
). According to a Newsday poll, in 1981, 43 percent of Long Islanders opposed the plant; by 1986, that number had risen to 74 percent.
On May 19, 1989, LILCO agreed not to operate the plant in a deal with the state under which most of the $6 billion cost of the unused plant was passed along to Long Island residents. The Long Island Power Authority
(LIPA), headed by Richard Kessel
, was created in 1986 specifically to buy the plant from LILCO (which it did in 1992). The plant was fully decommissioned in 1994.
Legislature announced with a 15-1 vote that the county could not be safely evacuated. Newly elected governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, ordered state officials not to approve any LILCO-sponsored evacuation plan.
The plant was completed in 1984. In 1985 LILCO received federal permission for low-power 5 percent tests. Confidence in LILCO declined in 1985 when it took nearly two weeks to restore power to all of the island following Hurricane Gloria
.
Between 1985 and 1989, as local communities continued to refuse to sign the necessary evacuation plan, LILCO proposed asking the U.S. Congress
to approve a law for the evacuation — a move which went nowhere.
On February 28, 1989, Cuomo and LILCO announced a plan to decommission the plant, which involved the state taking over the plant and then attaching a 3 percent surcharge to Long Island electric bills for 30 years to pay off the $6 billion price tag. In 1992, Shoreham became the first commercial nuclear power plant in the US to be dismantled.
.
In August 2002 a 100 MW Gas Turbine Power Plant was commissioned on the Shoreham site utilizing the existing switchgear that was in place for the decommissioned nuclear facility. This facility utilizes two 42 MW GE LM6000PC Jet Engine Generators equipped with Sprint injection (can increase capacity to 50 MW each) and Spray Mist Evaporative Cooling (SMEC).
The electric transmission infrastructure has remained, connecting it to the Long Island electric grid
. In 2002 the Cross Sound Cable
, a submarine power cable
capable of transmitting 330 MW, was laid from the Shoreham plant across Long Island Sound to New Haven, Connecticut
. During the Northeast Blackout of 2003
the cable was used to ease the effects of the blackout on Long Island. After extended negotiations with Connecticut
the cable was put into permanent use.
In 2004, trustees of the Long Island Power Authority voted “to erect two 100-foot wind turbines at the 47-acre site of the long-defunct Shoreham nuclear power plant as part of a renewable-energy program”.
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
nuclear boiling water reactor
Boiling water reactor
The boiling water reactor is a type of light water nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nuclear reactor after the pressurized water reactor , also a type of light water nuclear reactor...
located adjacent to the Wading River in East Shoreham
East Shoreham, New York
East Shoreham is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 5,809 at the 2000 census.East Shoreham is located in the northern part of the Town of Brookhaven.-Geography:...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. The plant was built between 1973 and 1984 by the Long Island Lighting Company
Long Island Lighting Company
The Long Island Lighting Company, or LILCO [ "lil-co" ], was an electrical power company and natural gas utility for the communities of Long Island, New York, serving 2.7 million people in Nassau, Suffolk and Queens Counties....
(LILCO), but never operated.
In 1983, the Suffolk County
Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...
Legislature voted that the county could not be safely evacuated in the event of a serious nuclear accident at the plant, and governor of New York, Mario Cuomo
Mario Cuomo
Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...
, ordered state officials not to approve any LILCO-sponsored evacuation plan. The plant was completed in 1984 and in 1985 LILCO received federal permission for low-power 5 percent power tests.
The plant faced considerable public opposition after the 1979 Three Mile Island accident
Three Mile Island accident
The Three Mile Island accident was a core meltdown in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, United States in 1979....
and the 1986 Chernobyl disaster
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
. There were large protests and two dozen local groups opposed the plant. In 1981, 43 percent of Long Islanders opposed the plant; by 1986, that number had risen to 74 percent.
On May 19, 1989, LILCO agreed not to operate the plant in a deal with the state under which most of the $6 billion cost of the unused plant was passed on to Long Island residents. In 1992, the Long Island Power Authority
Long Island Power Authority
The Long Island Power Authority or LIPA [ "lie-pah" ], a municipal subdivision of the State of New York, was created under the Long Island Power Act of 1985 to acquire the Long Island Lighting Company 's assets and securities...
bought the plant from LILCO. The plant was fully decommissioned in 1994.
Proposal
Long Island Lighting CompanyLong Island Lighting Company
The Long Island Lighting Company, or LILCO [ "lil-co" ], was an electrical power company and natural gas utility for the communities of Long Island, New York, serving 2.7 million people in Nassau, Suffolk and Queens Counties....
(LILCO) President John J. Tuohy announced plans for the plant on April 13, 1965 during a stockholder's meeting. The plant was to be the first commercial nuclear power plant
Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...
on Long Island and initially had little formal opposition, as Brookhaven already had multiple research nuclear reactors at the Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory , is a United States national laboratory located in Upton, New York on Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base...
, about 5 miles (8 km) south of Shoreham.
LILCO purchased a 455 acres (1.84 km²) site in an area which was sparsely populated at the time. They announced the plant would produce 540 megawatts, cost between $65 and $75 million and would be online in 1973. At the time, demand for electricity was increasing more than 10 percent per year on Long Island and the Atomic Energy Commission
United States Atomic Energy Commission
The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...
was strongly pushing all power companies to use nuclear power.
In 1968, LILCO increased the size of the plant from 540 to 820 megawatts and announced plans to build two more reactors in Jamesport
Jamesport, New York
Jamesport is a census-designated place that roughly corresponds to the hamlet by the same name in the town of Riverhead in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The CDP's population was 1,526 at the 2000 census. Jamesport is known for its quaint downtown area including antique shops and...
. Those reactors never got beyond the drawing board stage but this helped delay and increase the costs of the plant.
In 1969, LILCO announced plans for a reactor at Lloyd Harbor
Lloyd Harbor, New York
Lloyd Harbor is a village in Suffolk County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the village population was 3,675.The Village of Lloyd Harbor is in the Town of Huntington.-History:...
in Huntington, New York — closer to Manhattan in a more densely populated area. Following resident opposition, the proposal was dropped in 1970, setting the stage for opposition to any nuclear power plant on Long Island.
The plant was to be situated near the path of airplanes landing at MacArthur Airport and the New Haven Airport. It was also to be built in an area that the U.S. Air Force had designated as "high hazard" due to its proximity to the Calverton Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant
Calverton Executive Airpark
Calverton Executive Airpark is a public-owned private-use airport located three miles west of the central business district of the Calverton hamlet, in the Town of Riverhead, Suffolk County, New York, United States...
, where Grumman military fighter planes were tested, which was five miles (8 km) from the Shoreham site. The Lloyd Harbor Study Group were concerned that a plane could crash into the plant.
Construction
The plant was built between 1973 and 1984. Its location on Long Island SoundLong Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...
— near the mouth of the small stream that forms the border between Brookhaven and Riverhead
Riverhead (town), New York
The town of Riverhead is in Suffolk County, New York, on the north shore of Long Island. The population was 33,506 at the 2010 census. The name signifies that the mouth of the Peconic River is in this town...
towns — was largely rural at the time (although within 60 miles
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
). Cost overruns caused its estimated final cost to approach $2 billion by the late 1970s, due to low worker productivity and design changes ordered by the NRC.
Public opposition
The Sierra ClubSierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
, the Audubon Society and environmentalist Barry Commoner
Barry Commoner
Barry Commoner is an American biologist, college professor, and eco-socialist. He ran for president of the United States in the 1980 US presidential election on the Citizens Party ticket. He was also editor of Science Illustrated magazine.-Biography:Commoner was born in Brooklyn...
opposed the issuance of a construction permit for the Shoreham plant. The plant drew considerable opposition after the 1979 Three Mile Island accident
Three Mile Island accident
The Three Mile Island accident was a core meltdown in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, United States in 1979....
and the 1986 Chernobyl disaster
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
, resulting in delays and cost increases before New York Governor Mario Cuomo
Mario Cuomo
Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...
pulled the plug in a state takeover of the plant. The state would ultimately take over LILCO also.
The first small anti-Shoreham demonstration took place in June 1976. On June 3, 1979, following the Three Mile Island accident
Three Mile Island accident
The Three Mile Island accident was a core meltdown in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, United States in 1979....
, 15,000 protesters gathered in the largest demonstration in Long Island history. 600 were arrested as they scaled the plant's fences.
LILCO's problems were compounded by NRC rules in the wake of Three Mile Island, requiring that operators of nuclear plants work out evacuation plans in cooperation with state and local governments. Politicians from local entities joined the opposition, saying their communities could not be evacuated quickly in case of an accident, as any land evacuation off the island would involve traveling at least 60 miles (96.6 km) back through New York City to reach its bridges.
Nora Bredes, executive director of the Shoreham Opponents Coalition, was the primary organizer of the grass-roots campaign against Shoreham. She lobbied officials, organized advertising campaigns, wrote pamphlets, and planned rallies. Ms. Bredes drew together more than two dozen local opposition groups which included the Lloyd Harbor Study Group, the Farm Bureau, The Long Island Safe Energy Coalition and its newsletter Chain Reaction, Safe'n Sound with its Sound Times newspaper, and the S.H.A.D. Alliance
Shad Alliance
The Shad Alliance was an active and influential anti-nuclear group which used non-violent, direct action methods in the late 1970s and 1980s. It grew out of the "alliance movement" started in New Hampshire by the Clamshell Alliance...
(modeled on New Hampshire's Clamshell Alliance
Clamshell Alliance
The Clamshell Alliance is an anti-nuclear organization co-founded by Paul Gunter, Howie Hawkins, Harvey Wasserman, Guy Chichester and other activists in 1976. The alliance's coalescence began in 1975 as New England activists and organizations began to respond to U.S...
). According to a Newsday poll, in 1981, 43 percent of Long Islanders opposed the plant; by 1986, that number had risen to 74 percent.
On May 19, 1989, LILCO agreed not to operate the plant in a deal with the state under which most of the $6 billion cost of the unused plant was passed along to Long Island residents. The Long Island Power Authority
Long Island Power Authority
The Long Island Power Authority or LIPA [ "lie-pah" ], a municipal subdivision of the State of New York, was created under the Long Island Power Act of 1985 to acquire the Long Island Lighting Company 's assets and securities...
(LIPA), headed by Richard Kessel
Richard Kessel
Richard M. Kessel is a power industry executive who was formerly President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York Power Authority, the largest state-owned public utility company in the United States...
, was created in 1986 specifically to buy the plant from LILCO (which it did in 1992). The plant was fully decommissioned in 1994.
Closure
On February 17, 1983, the Suffolk CountySuffolk County, New York
Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...
Legislature announced with a 15-1 vote that the county could not be safely evacuated. Newly elected governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, ordered state officials not to approve any LILCO-sponsored evacuation plan.
The plant was completed in 1984. In 1985 LILCO received federal permission for low-power 5 percent tests. Confidence in LILCO declined in 1985 when it took nearly two weeks to restore power to all of the island following Hurricane Gloria
Hurricane Gloria
Hurricane Gloria was a powerful Cape Verde-type hurricane that formed during the 1985 Atlantic hurricane season and prowled the Atlantic Ocean from September 16 to September 28. Gloria reached Category 4 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale near the Bahamas, but weakened significantly...
.
Between 1985 and 1989, as local communities continued to refuse to sign the necessary evacuation plan, LILCO proposed asking the U.S. Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
to approve a law for the evacuation — a move which went nowhere.
On February 28, 1989, Cuomo and LILCO announced a plan to decommission the plant, which involved the state taking over the plant and then attaching a 3 percent surcharge to Long Island electric bills for 30 years to pay off the $6 billion price tag. In 1992, Shoreham became the first commercial nuclear power plant in the US to be dismantled.
Aftermath
It cost $186 million to decommission the reactor, with the radioactive materials license ending in May 1995. The low-pressure turbine rotors are currently in use at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station. LILCO paid Philadelphia Electric Company $50 million to take its fuel to the Limerick Nuclear Power PlantLimerick Nuclear Power Plant
The Limerick Generating Station in Pennsylvania is located next to the Schuylkill River in Limerick Township, Montgomery County, northwest of Philadelphia. The facility has two General Electric boiling water reactor units, cooled by natural draft cooling towers...
.
In August 2002 a 100 MW Gas Turbine Power Plant was commissioned on the Shoreham site utilizing the existing switchgear that was in place for the decommissioned nuclear facility. This facility utilizes two 42 MW GE LM6000PC Jet Engine Generators equipped with Sprint injection (can increase capacity to 50 MW each) and Spray Mist Evaporative Cooling (SMEC).
The electric transmission infrastructure has remained, connecting it to the Long Island electric grid
Electric power transmission
Electric-power transmission is the bulk transfer of electrical energy, from generating power plants to Electrical substations located near demand centers...
. In 2002 the Cross Sound Cable
Cross Sound Cable
The Cross Sound Cable is a long bipolar high-voltage direct current submarine power cable between New Haven, Connecticut, USA and Shoreham, Long Island New York , USA. The Cross Sound Cable can transmit a maximum power of 330 MW at a voltage of +/- 150 kV DC. The maximum current for Cross Sound...
, a submarine power cable
Submarine power cable
Submarine power cables are major transmission cables for carrying electric power below the surface of the water. These are called "submarine" because they usually carry electric power beneath salt water but it is also possible to use submarine power cables beneath fresh water...
capable of transmitting 330 MW, was laid from the Shoreham plant across Long Island Sound to New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
. During the Northeast Blackout of 2003
Northeast Blackout of 2003
The Northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Ontario, Canada on Thursday, August 14, 2003, just before 4:10 p.m....
the cable was used to ease the effects of the blackout on Long Island. After extended negotiations with Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
the cable was put into permanent use.
In 2004, trustees of the Long Island Power Authority voted “to erect two 100-foot wind turbines at the 47-acre site of the long-defunct Shoreham nuclear power plant as part of a renewable-energy program”.
See also
- Anti-nuclear movement in the United StatesAnti-nuclear movement in the United StatesThe anti-nuclear movement in the United States consists of more than 80 anti-nuclear groups which have acted to oppose nuclear power or nuclear weapons, or both, in the United States. These groups include the Abalone Alliance, Clamshell Alliance, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research,...
- Broadwater EnergyBroadwater EnergyBroadwater Energy is a Liquefied Natural Gas Terminal proposed to be built in Long Island Sound between New York State and Connecticut. The project has received vociferous objections from Connecticut officials and some New York state officials....
- Licensed to Kill? The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Shoreham Power PlantLicensed to Kill? The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Shoreham Power PlantLicensed to Kill? The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Shoreham Power Plant, a 1998 book by Joan Aron, presents the first detailed case study of how an activist public and elected officials of New York state opposed the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant on Long Island...
- List of canceled nuclear plants in the United States
- Nuclear power in the United States