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Community Talks The Future Of Turkey Point In Public Meeting

fcir.org

Florida Power And Light wants to build two new power reactors at Turkey Point in south Miami-Dade.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission met with the public Wednesday at Florida International University to discuss concerns raised by the recent FPL proposal.

Florida Representative José Javier Rodriguez was one of those who spoke out against the idea.

“Basically, the application is seeking approval for two new units on a low peninsula into a shallow bay that’s already highly vulnerable to storm surge,” Rodriguez said.

That was the general sentiment among the public commentators.

FPL says it has taken precautions and is prepared for climate change.

“The plant is built a certain elevation above sea level to ensure that even in the worst postulated natural disaster that any kind of wave rushing on shore would not impact all the safety equipment,” said Devin Caraza, a reactor operator at Turkey Point.

FPL drafted an environmental impact statement for its plans to build the power reactors.

Credit Lisann Ramos
The crowd at Florida International University's stadium club during the Turkey Point Nuclear Plant public meeting.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is in charge of approving the statement.

South Miami mayor and biologist Philip Stoddard cites 10 oversights in the report that don’t fully address the impacts of climate change.

“My ideal outcome is that they find another place to build a nuclear plant certainly not here on a hurricane swept coastline between two national parks subject to sea level rise and storm surge,” Stoddard said.

Stoddard plans to work with the commission to try and make that a possibility.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it plans to use the public comments to improve on the environmental impact report that was submitted by FPL.

Construction on the reactors may begin as soon as 2016. 

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