Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station

Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station is a twin reactor nuclear power station located on a 3300acre site two miles east of Homestead, Florida, United States, next to Biscayne National Park located about south of Miami, Florida near the southernmost edge of Miami-Dade County. The facility is owned by Florida Power & Light.Including the two nuclear plants, Turkey Point operates five power-generating units. It comprises two 400-megawatt oil/natural gas-fired generation units (Units 1 and 2) and two nuclear Westinghouse pressurized water reactors (Units 3 and 4), each supplying steam to one high pressure and two low-pressure turbines with a power output rated at 693 MWe for each unit. In 2007, it added the 1,150 MW combined-cycle gas-fired Unit 5. It serves the entire southern portion of Florida. With a combined capacity of 3330 MW, the site is the largest generating station in Florida and is the sixth largest power plant in the United States.An expansion of two additional nuclear reactors is currently under consideration.ConstructionThe two pressurized water reactors were completed in 1972 and 1973.ExpansionIn 2002, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) extended the operating licenses for both nuclear reactors from forty years to sixty years. In 2006, FPL informed the NRC 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. The proposal was approved by the PSC in March 2008.