Florida Commission Approves Two New Reactors

The Miami Herald reported on the Florida Public Service Commission's decision to approve two additional reactors at Florida Power & Light's Turkey Point site. FPL already operates two reactors at Turkey Point in south Florida.

"Trends indicate there will be a substantial need for more power in FPL's service territory, and these new nuclear units can help meet that need," PSC Chairman Matthew M. Carter II said in a statement. "The nuclear units will provide a clean, noncarbon-emitting source of base-load power to meet Florida's growing energy needs."

FPL said in a statement today that the Florida commission's decision will help provide the state with clean, safe and reliable electricity.

"Additional nuclear generation will help us achieve Gov. Crist’s goal of reducing the carbon emissions that scientists have determined contribute to climate change, and will protect customers from supply disruptions and unpredictable prices that can result from being too dependent on a single fuel source," said Armando Olivera, president of FPL.

Comments

Anonymous said…

Note in the article by the Sun Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-flzfpl0319sbmar19,0,6071956.story

that the projected new reactor costs will be $12 billion to $24 billion.

March 19, 2008 at 9:58 AM

David Bradish said…

Note the last sentence of the third paragraph on page 8 from Florida's PSC (pdf):

"Such a break-even analysis shows the
highest capital costs for which nuclear generation would still be cost-effective."

If you want to read more on the cost-effectiveness of the two units check out page 11 of FPL's Petition (pdf).

March 19, 2008 at 10:20 AM

GRLCowan said…

David Bradish, your link labelled "Florida's PSC" links in fact to the comment thread that contains it.

PDFs take several minutes to get. Might excerpts from the two you had in mind, and an explanation of how they are relevant to the $12-to-$24-billion thing, not make a good posting of its own?

Let the baby light matches in the fuel room!

March 19, 2008 at 10:36 PM

David Bradish said…

grlcowan,

Good catch. Here's the link I meant to post (pdf).

You're right, FPL's Petition and cost estimates should be a posting of its own. I'm actually working on a series of posts discussing new nuclear plant costs reported by FPL's and Progress's recent Petitions as well as a few other sources. I hope to have the first post by the beginning of next week.

March 20, 2008 at 6:36 AM

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