I'm a bit off topic here, but since FPL seems to think nuclear should be given the same due as solar in the RPS legislation, I figured I'd cover a bit of rather alarming news about the company slated to build the new Turkey Point nuclear units:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently rejected the Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactor design over flaws in the shield building design. The shield building is the outermost structure around the reactor.
It appears that the NRC deemed the building insufficiently tough enough to withstand natural disasters - a rather important performance measure in hurricane prone South Florida. The design flaw also seems to stem partially from the manufacturer's attempt to make the construction "modular" - making the structure in sections elsewhere and shipping them to the final destination to be connected together like Lego blocks. While that aspect of the design is probably overcome by slowing down construction and pouring concrete on site, a bigger issue might be the passive cooling design. The Westinghouse unit stores millions of gallons of water above the reactor so an emergency shut-down would not require energy to pump water into the containment area. Structural concerns there would be harder to work around.
Even though this will likely impact the construction timeline for FPL, the PSC just gave the go-ahead to pre-charge us for these new reactors just this past week. I wonder if the utility informed the PSC about the problems with the design when they were asking for early cost recovery.
The New York Times: Agency Rejects Westinghouse Plant Design
The Wall Street Journal: NRC Rejects Nuclear Plant Design
The Miami Herald: Nuclear Reactor Design Has Safety Flaw
The Charlotte Business Journal: NRC rejects Westinghouse Reactor's Shield Building Design
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