FPL Outlines Nuclear Energy Expansion Plans

Florida Power & Light Co. on Wednesday announced a nuclear power plan that could see customers of the state's largest utility getting 30 percent of their electricity from fission by 2020.

The utility wants to upgrade each of its four nuclear reactors - two at the St. Lucie plant on Hutchinson Island and two others at the Turkey Point plant near Miami. The move would add 414 megawatts of power to the grid between 2011 and 2012.

FPL, owned by FPL Group Inc. (NYSE: FPL, $58.97), also reiterated that it wants to build two more reactors at Turkey Point by 2018 and 2020 and wants to choose from one of five reactor designs by early next year.

"We need to take concrete steps now to investigate the ability for new nuclear power," Steve Scroggs, FPL's senior director for nuclear project development, told the Florida Public Service Commission on Wednesday.

FPL's executives have been bullish on nuclear power, but right now it occupies only 20 percent of the utility's fuel mix. Meanwhile, it gets 50 percent of its fuel from natural gas and needs to figure out another way to diversify that and add additional power.

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