Four years after it was completed and 14 years after construction began, the Seabrook plant has supplied nuclear-generated electricity to New England customers for the first time.
The plant was operating at 15 percent capacity and producing enough electricity to supply 65,000 homes when it was hooked into the New England power grid Tuesday night, officials said.The milestone occurred during tests to ready the $6.5 billion plant for full commercial operation by midsummer. At full power, Seabrook will generate 1,150 megawatts, enough for 1 million homes.
Spokesman Ron Sher said the plant would be disconnected from the power grid early Wednesday for equipment tests. Operators will repeatedly connect and disconnect the generator during the next several weeks of testing.
Seabrook has become a symbol of the nuclear industry's troubles and a target of anti-nuclear activists. Construction began in 1976 and took 10 years. Even then, the plant was unable to get an operating license until March.