Although Dorian kept churning up the Florida coast, its four nuclear power plants (St. Lucie-1&2 and Turkey Point-3&4) continued to operate at 100% power – providing reliable, resilient power for its customers.
Florida Power & Light’s nuclear power plants are located on the Atlantic Coast side of Florida with Turkey Point (1,770-MW) in Homestead and St. Lucie (2,213-MW) in the Jensen Beach area.
Although these power plants were designed to withstand extreme weather conditions, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires them to shut-down these units, at least two hours before the projected arrival of sustained hurricane-force winds, above 74 mph.
Workers began implementing these detailed storm preparation procedures on August 26th. These emergency response preparations include verification of equipment and any supplies that might be needed, securing or moving equipment or items that might be blown around, and emergency staffing – enough operators and support staff onsite, 24/7, in the event that the roads might become inaccessible.