C-10's 2024 Year-End Review
11/19/2024
Dear C-10 Community,
With the end of 2024 fast approaching, we are so proud of what C-10 has accomplished this year. A few highlights include working with Harvard University to understand Seabrook Station’s impacts on our health, installing 12 new radiation-monitoring probes donated by SafeCast®, and continuing to connect local residents with free radiological emergency-planning resources. Now that the clamor of the recent election is finally behind us, C-10 can assure you that we always have, and always will, withstand the political winds of change. Although our work is not easy, hard work is good work, leading to safety improvements for everyone in our community. It is only with the help of donations from community members like you that we are able to deliver on all of our nuclear safety programs!
With our optimism comes a healthy dose of realism: There are intensifying efforts from NextEra, the private corporation that owns Seabrook Station, to cut costs at the plant. Two such recent actions by NextEra are a proposal to reduce emergency-response staff at the plant, and seeking waivers to now allow certain backup safety equipment to languish in a failed state for longer than ever before.
C-10 has been focusing on these issues for nearly two years. Our results? Political and media pressure forced a public meeting to be held in April. NextEra then revised their application, removing some of the most dangerous cuts to their emergency response staff. Your support is essential for us to continue achieving wins like this which involved hundreds of hours of work, thousands of pages of documents, and dozens of meetings with elected officials, NRC staff, state officials, and NextEra executives.
PROGRESS MADE ON OTHER MAJOR ISSUES:
✓ A C-10 2023 study showed that a LOW number of residents have obtained their free potassium iodide (KI) pills, suggested by FEMA to have on hand for a radiological emergency if you live near a nuclear plant. C-10 is creating opportunities at public events for residents to more easily obtain their KI Pills.
This August, C-10 arranged for the Newburyport Health Agent to hand out KI Pills directly to residents at the Yankee Homecoming “Know Your Community” fair. Over 20 households, accounting for approximately 70 people, received their KI Pills at that two-hour event — more KI Pills than were distributed by the City the entire previous year! To obtain your pills, visit c-10.org/KItablets to see how your town distributes them.
A donation of $50 helps support a 2025 C-10 project to improve KI Pill stocking and the parental consent process in local schools and daycares. School health leaders have reported challenges in the current KI Pill procedures and asked C-10 to help.
✓ C-10’s message continues to be delivered directly to our elected leaders, the inspectors who work every day at the plant, and to the Commissioners who sit at the very top of the NRC. The NRC’s newest Commissioner, Bradley Crowell, has held private meetings with C-10’s Sarah Abramson twice this year. Why? Because C-10 continues to deliver the truth to leaders on important safety risks at Seabrook Station. We emphasize the vital need for action on the Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR)-induced concrete degradation, repeat fire-safety violations, prolonged outages of safety equipment, and failures in the plant’s on-site radiation monitoring.
✓ With Crowell’s encouragement, NextEra VP Dave Sluszka hosted C-10’s Sarah at a face-to-face meeting at Seabrook Station in July. There are facts that we do not agree on and differences in how highly we prioritize public safety over profitability, but the meeting was cordial, may happen again, and Sarah was invited to submit written letters regarding future questions and concerns directly to this NextEra VP.
We are deeply grateful for all the generous support we have received from supporters like you over the years. Our historical contract with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has, for the last 34 years, provided critical funding for our radiation monitoring. However, the truth remains that we rely on member contributions to support all of our impactful programs, such as public education, research, and advocacy work. Your support will help ensure we can continue our efforts to prioritize nuclear safety in 2025 and beyond.
With best wishes for safety and good health,
Sarah Abramson, Executive Director
C-10 Research & Education Foundation
11 Chestnut St., Amesbury, MA 01913
