FPL seeks OK for reactors
Application to operate units through 2052, 2053 now available.
Florida Power & Light Co.’s application seeking to operate two reactors at its Turkey Point nuclear plant through 2052 and 2053 is now available for public review.
If the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission grants the renewal for Turkey Point’s two existing reactors, known as Units 3 and 4, FPL could be among the first power companies to operate a reactor for 80 years.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made available on its website the first-ever subsequent license renewal application. FPL has requested an additional 20 years for the already-renewed operating licenses.
Juno Beach-based FPL filed the application Jan. 31 seeking to renew the licenses for a second time. The Turkey Point units are three-loop, pressurized water reactors located approximately 40 miles south of Miami. The NRC approved the initial license renewal in June 2002, with Unit 3 currently licensed to operate through July 19, 2032, and Unit 4 through April 10, 2033.
The NRC staff is reviewing the application. If the application is determined to be complete, the staff will docket it and publish a notice of opportunity to request an adjudicatory hearing before the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.
Information about the license renewal process is available on the NRC website. Copies of the Turkey Point subsequent license renewal application will be available at the Homestead Branch Library, 700 N. Homestead Blvd. in Homestead; the South Dade Regional Library, 10750 SW 211th St. in Miami; and the Naranja Branch Library, 14850 SW 280th St. in Homestead.
The move comes as the company is set to go to trial in early 2019 over a lawsuit brought by conservation groups asserting that it violated the Clean Water Act with contaminated water discharges at its Turkey Point plant on Biscayne Bay south of Miami.
The two reactors are cooled by a 2-mile-by-5-mile unlined canal system that is polluting the Biscayne Aquifer as well as the surface waters of Biscayne Bay. The Biscayne Aquifer supplies drinking water to more than 3 million South Floridians, including customers of Palm Beach County Water Utilities.
On average, about 600,000 pounds of salt seep from the canals into the groundwater every day, and a too-salty plume has migrated underground at least 4 miles west.
FPL is in the midst of a 10-year, $200 million-plus cleanup of the groundwater contamination. FPL customers are paying for the fix.
The approval process is expected to take two years. FPL has already invested more than $1 billion to modernize the nuclear
units.
FPL officials have said that the license renewals will save customers money by avoiding the need
for a new-natural-gas-fired plant in Miami-Dade County. A new plant in that region would cost an estimated $2.8 billion.
This year FPL is upgrading the turbines on both nuclear units at
Turkey Point. The revamped turbines will be more efficient and will result in a total increase of 40 megawatts.
The company anticipates receiving the operating license this year for two additional reactors at Turkey Point, Units 6 and 7.