Two Florida nuclear power plants shut down at least parts of their operations this week as Hurricane Irma approached and then tore through the state, but are once again operational.
Florida Power and Light (FPL), which operates both plants, said public safety is a top priority.
Both reactor units at the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station, located about 30 miles southwest of Miami Beach along the Atlantic coastline, were shut down late last week for the storm. After Irma moved through the area early this week, FLP brought St. Lucie Unit 1 offline for non-reactor issues.
“We conservatively took down St. Lucie 1 after the storm while we cleaned salt from non-nuclear equipment,” FLP spokesman Peter Robbins said of the facility on Hutchinson Island off the Atlantic coast.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission showed St. Lucie 1 back up to about 80 percent of capacity with Unit 2 still at full power. While one of the Turkey Point reactors was still listed as offline, the other had been brought up to 70 percent from zero the day before.
“We are not releasing a timeline on the units coming back up. Please know that, as always, our decision-making process is very deliberate and conservative with safety as the top priority,” Robbins said.
FLP said its facilities were constructed to withstand hurricane-force winds, including nuclear waste casks on site. Robbins called the large, concrete dry-waste storage casks among the strongest, most robust structures at the nuclear plants.
“They are designed and built to handle all sorts of extreme weather, including hurricanes. All of Turkey Point is safe, including the dry storage,” he said.
No nuclear facilities reported any damage from the storm, which passed along the western coast of Florida. According to maps from the National Weather Service, both Turkey Point and St. Lucie were in tropical storm-force wind zones.
