Florida Power and Light to Buy Seabrook Nuke

By Roger Wood on Tuesday, April 16, 2002.

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Florida Power and Light today released more information on their proposed purchase of Seabrook Station.
News of the nuclear power plant's sale was announced late Monday and has been applauded by company and government officials. Correspondent Roger Wood reports.

At a NEWS briefing only a few hundred yards from SEABROOK STATION?S South entrance, Lew Hay, Chief Executive Officer of the FPL Group, inc. said that he is delighted that the utility is buying a majority interest in the New Hampshire plant.

(SOT Hay) :11

"This is a strategic market for us?we think it's a good market, and it's a market where we do a lot of energy marketing and trading in, so it very much fits our overall strategy."

That strategy, said Hay, is to maintain a significant presence in New England. TO that end, the Florida based company now operates 30 hydro-electric plants in Maine, fossil fuel plants there and in Massachusetts, and a gas fired power plant, scheduled for completion in Rhode Island this summer. It also operates four nuclear reactors in its home state, twin reactors at both Turkey Point and St. Lucie, Florida. The Seabrook purchase, at a total of $836 million dollars, Hay conceded, was at the high end of nuclear plant asset values.

(SOT Hay) :12

"At the same time, we believe that by working very closely with the employees and the management at Seabrook, we can continue to improve the operations, and that this will be a core generating asset for many years to come in the New England market."

Governor Jeanne Shaheen HAS APPLAUDED THE deal SAYING IT will mean lower electricity rates for New Hampshire residents and businesses. BUT Hay SAYS ELECTRICITY RATES ARE NOT THAT SIMPLE AND THAT COMPETITION AND OTHER COSTS HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY IN RATE PAYERS BILLS.

(SOT Hay) :16

"It's very hard to differentiate one company's electrons from another's, so it's a very price competitive business. But prices typically are more based, in the New England market on oil and natural gas than whatever the incremental cost of operating Seabrook will be."

THE COMPANY?S CEO ADDED THAT FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT HAS NO plans to complete the unfinished second nuclear reactor at Seabrook. HE CITED studies SHOWING it would be cheaper to build such a plant from scratch. But he left open the door to the possibility an alternative fuel plant might be constructed on the 900-acre property. While STATE AND FEDERAL REGULATORS, INCLUDING the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, EXAMINE THE PROPOSED SALE, the current operator, North Atlantic Energy Corp. will continue to run the facility, while cooperating with FPL officials who visit the site. Ted Feigenbaum, Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer for Seabrook Station said the current level of security will be maintained during transition. The management currently does not require National Guard Troops to patrol the plant.

(SOT Feigenbaum) :15

"We decided not to do that, but frankly, as Lew said, everything's on the table, and should the situation change in this country, we would evaluate that on a day to day basis, and if it was necessary to bring federal troops to the plant, we would certainly do that."

FPL Group officials also said that they would be sensitive to NEIGHBOR?S concerns, and have agreed to meet with community leaders and residents to open a dialogue. Under terms of the DEAL, all labor agreements and other employee contracts will be in force for one year after the close of the sale, now expected in late 2002. When completed, FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT will own 88.2 per cent of the plant. THREE Seabrook consortium members, Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company, Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant, and Hudson Light and Power Department, WILL OWN the remainder. For NHPR News, this is Roger Wood in Seabrook.