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To: SE Mom
From 2002....

Florida's Looming Power Crisis

164 posted on 02/26/2008 12:20:50 PM PST by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: All

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_Point_Nuclear_Generating_Station

Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station is a twin reactor nuclear power station located on a 3,300 acre (13 km²) site 2 miles east of Homestead, Florida, United States, next to Biscayne National Park located about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Miami, Florida near the southernmost edge of Miami-Dade County. It is home to a wildlife preservation, helping the population of the American Crocodile.[1] Turkey Point has been the main contributing force to the reclassification of the American Crocodile from endangered to threatened.[2]

Turkey Point contains two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors, each supplying steam to one high pressure and two low pressure turbines with a power output rated at 760 MWe for each unit. It serves the entire southern portion of Florida.

In 1992, Turkey Point was directly hit by Hurricane Andrew, causing over $90 million (1992 dollars) in damage, mainly to a water tank and to a smokestack of one of the fossil-fueled units on-site. No damage was done to the plant’s containment buildings.[3][4] The plant was built to withstand winds of up to 235 mph (378 km/h), highly exceeding the maximum winds recorded by category 5 hurricanes.

Florida Power & Light, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were investigating the discovery of a small hole drilled into a pipe that helps maintain pressure inside the reactor.[5] This incident took place during a refueling outage when the reactor was not powered, and was quickly identified during power-up testing. The 3/16” hole was drilled into a 3” stainless steel schedule 160 pipe that would hold 600-degree-Fahrenheit reactor coolant water at 2235 psi under normal operation.

In 2006, FPL informed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that they planned to apply for new units to be built at Turkey Point. FPL filed an initial proposal for increased capacity with the Florida Public Service Commission in October, 2007.[6]

On February 26, 2008, both reactors were shut due to the loss of off-site power during a widespread power outage in South Florida affecting 4.4 million residents. [7]


168 posted on 02/26/2008 12:21:44 PM PST by SE Mom (Proud mom of an Iraq war combat vet)
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To: mewzilla
More good news folk, if it's true (this is from Rooters)....

FPL says to restore power within hours

NEW YORK, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Florida Power and Light, a subsidiary of FPL Group Inc (FPL.N: Quote, Profile, Research), said Tuesday it expects to restore power to most Florida customers that lost power in about two hours.

Still no word on the cause.

177 posted on 02/26/2008 12:24:31 PM PST by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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