Final Environmental Impact Report - Whittier Bridge/I-95 ...

1. The Whittier Bridge Replacement Project involves the addition of four lanes northbound (plus
shoulder), then the building of additional lanes southbound. When this Project is completed circa the
year 2016, the replacement Whittier Bridge will increase the capacity of Interstate 95 as one ofthe
region's primary emergency evacuation corridors. With contraflow evacuations, using shoulders as well
as travel lanes, there could ultimately be at least 9 of 10 lanes available for contraflow evacuation in an
emergency. This is at least a 50 percent increase from the present flow constriction at the Whittier
Bridge, six lanes without operable shoulder lanes.
2. Because of the extended construction period, encompassing years 2013 through 2016, mitigation
measures are essential throughout the construction period so that, if an emergency required coastal
region evacuation, whether due to an accident at Seabrook Station, a hurricane, or other emergency,
the existing six lanes for contraflow evacuation would be reliably available.
3. Roughly coincident with the period of Whittier Bridge replacement and 1-95 widening in northeastern
Massachusetts, years 2013 through 2016, the epicycle of solar geomagnetic storms, roughly 10.5 years
per cycle, is expected to peak in the year 2013. Over the 50 year period 1958 -2008, as monitored by
the U.S. Geological Survey, the highest magnitude solar storms tend to occur near the solar maxima, in
this cycle May 2013, or in the several years around this peak. 1
4. Solar geomagnetic storms place at risk the reliability of the U.S. electric grid, including the power
required to operate Seabrook Station and to provide make up water to cool spent fuel within pools at
Seabrook Station, New Hampshire. 2
5. The Foundation for Resilient Societies has petitioned the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to
augment on-station backup power systems at all 104 U.S. licensed nuclear power reactors. See Petition
cited in footnote 2.
The Foundation has also proposed specific cost-effective measures to reduce the
risks of zirconium fires that could release significant radioactive particles from Seabrook Station if
backup power designed to operate through geomagnetic storms is not available to operate water
pumps to cool spent nuclear fuel.
The Foundation has also proposed backup power to better assure
operation of hydrogen recombination equipment, to prevent explosions affecting reactor containment
systems as occu.rred at Fukushima Dai-ichi, Japan in March 2011. See Comments on Seabrook Draft
Supplemental EIS, October 26,2011. 3
1 Comments of William R. Harris and Thomas S. Popik, Submitted for the Foundation for Resilient Societies,
Environmental and Financial Benefits of Includrng Additkmal Severe Accident Mitigation Measure
Analyses...Regarding Seabrook Station Licensing Renewal..... 27 pp., Nuclear Regulatory Commission Docket NRC­
2010-0206, October 26, 2011, at p. 12, citing J. J. Love and J. L. Gannon, "Revised Dst and the epicycles of magnetic
disturbance: 1958-2007," in NRC ADAMS Document ML 1304A055.
2 See Thomas S. Popik, for the Foundation for Resilient Societies, Petition for Rulemaking PRM-50-96 (to. Assure
Long-Term Cooling and Water Makeup of Spent Fuel), NRC Docket PRM-50-96, filed March 15,2011, in NRC
ADAMS Document ML 110750145.
3 See Seabrook Station Relicensing Comments, per footnote 1.
2