FPL prepares for Hurricane Irma as storm nears Florida

The National Hurricane Center’s forecast track shows Irma making landfall on the southwest side of the Florida Peninsula, west of the two nuclear reactors at the Turkey Point plant.

FPL spokeswoman Florencia Contesse said they are ready for whatever Irma brings. But from West Palm Beach south, it’s been a decade since a significant storm cleared vegetation and tree branches, Gould said.

According to FPL, it is mobilizing a restoration workforce of more than 11,000, pre-positioning workers and equipment in the areas expected to be hit hard.

“I have been talking to Florida Power & Light, which owns these”, Scott told CNN on Thursday, when asked about the power plants, “and they will both be shut down”.

Meanwhile, Florida Power and Light (FPL) estimated that almost 3.4 million of its customers could be without power at some point during Hurricane Irma. Turkey Point Nuclear Reactor in Homestead, Florida.

“Everyone in Florida will be impacted in some way by this storm”, FPL chief executive Eric Silagy said on Friday at a news conference. The St.Lucie location is similarly protected and can withstand flooding from storm surges, Robbins added.

The company plans to deploy about 16,000 utility workers from 29 different states to begin restoration efforts once conditions are safe.

Company officials estimate about 6 million people, representing 3.4 million customer accounts, will lose power in the Category 3 storm’s wake.

There’s a chance that up to 190,000 people in Orange and Osceola counties can go dark OUC spokesperson Tim Trudell said.

Lochbaum also said that the NRC previously required accident response plans for the outage of a single reactor at a multiunit site such as Turkey Point. “We have to be ever vigilant”, Gould said. “We will not just be sitting back”. In 1992, the eye of Hurricane Andrew passed right over Turkey Point.

“In this case, we’re predicting about 2.6 to 2.7 million customers will be without power, largely on the Florida peninsula, but extending well up into Georgia”, he said.

The last time a major hurricane hit nearby Turkey Point Power Plant, it caused about $90 million in damages but left reactors located along Biscayne Bay untouched. In fact, we have adequate power to continue serving all customers. Andrew remains the most destructive hurricane to hit the state. Now if we have any damage to a plant it’s prioritized.

Once the nuclear plants are shutdown, other non-nuclear plants, fossil and natural gas, are expected to generate enough to power to make up for losses unless they are severely damaged by the storm.