Imagine Sandy striking floating nuclear plants Although what the
100-year superstorm Sandy did to the shore was horrendous, it
could have been worse. In the early 1970s, Westinghouse and
Tenneco Inc. sought permission from the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission to build twin 1,000-megawatt floating nuclear power
plants 2.8 miles off the coast of Atlantic City. This was
opposed by the Atlantic County Citizens Council on the
Environment. Three members of that organization were registered
by the NRC as official interveners to represent the opposition
of the community, which soon included the county and state
governments. Over the next couple of years, the ACCCE brought in
scientists and experts from as far away as California to Richard
Stockton College to inform the public of the dangers of such an
enterprise. County freeholders placed a question on the ballot
that asked, "Do you want a nuclear power plant 2.8 miles off
Atlantic City?" The idea was voted down by a margin of 2-to-1.
During the next two years, the ACCC