Nearly 20 years after work stopped on the second unit containment dome of the Seabrook, N.H., nuclear powerplant, officials have finally ordered the demolition of the rusting steel structure. Their action is the last chapter of a costly and protracted battle that inflated construction costs from $1 billion to over $6 billion and puts to rest any concerns about future expansion.
The $2-million demolition project, awarded in May to Aulson Co. Inc., Methuen, Mass., involves dismantling a 140-ft-dia, 70-ft-tall steel plate liner, removing 40-ft-tall sections of #18 rebar from the dome foundation, demolishing a fuel storage building and cutting exposed rebar on several other incomplete buildings. The dome was never finished with a reinforced concrete cover.