Environment: The Siege of Seabrook

The small town of Seabrook (pop. 5,300) is invaded annually on the Memorial Day weekend by the first wave of summer vacationers eager to enjoy New Hampshire's bays and beaches. This year invasion came early to Seabrook. For five years, environmentalists and others opposed to atomic power plants have been trying to block construction by the state's Public Service Co. of two 1.15 million-kilowatt nuclear reactors near Seabrook. Last week they took their protests into the streets. With the precision of a well-trained army, some 2,000 protesters, carrying backpacks and water bottles, occupied...