NRC Gives Turkey Point Nuclear Expansion A Key Environmental Approval

"Federal nuclear regulators have wrapped up a seven-year environmental study partly clearing the way for two new reactors at Turkey Point, just as work gets underway on a massive cleanup of leaking cooling canals connected to the plant’s old reactors.

In a two-volume 1,200-page review, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission found the use of cooling towers to operate the new reactors perched on the shores of Biscayne Bay between two national parks would do no damage to the fragile ecosystem. The approval comes as Florida Power & Light begins tackling ongoing problems at the aging cooling canals that over the years pushed an underground plume of saltwater miles inland, threatening drinking water supplies, and leaked water tainted with a radioactive tracer into Biscayne Bay.

By the end of the month, the utility expects to complete a new well in the Floridan aquifer to freshen the canals and stop heavier, hyper-salty water from migrating. An injection well has also begun dumping leaky canal water into the boulder zone, below the Biscayne aquifer that supplies fresh water to the region, said FPL senior director Steve Scroggs."

Jenny Staletovich reports for the Miami Herald November 2, 2016.