Safety at Turkey Point is concerning

Nils Diaz, former chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, didn’t like my Aug. 24 op-ed about Turkey Point’s troubling safety record. His response, the Sept. 13 op-ed, “As South Florida’s sea rise concerns grow, Turkey Point plant offers safe electricity,” demonstrates the too-cozy-for-comfort relationship between the nuclear industry and the agency that is supposed to be regulating it.

Diaz objects to my characterization of four recent unplanned shutdowns at Turkey Point (TP), calling them routine safety procedures. But he doesn’t deny that, because of those shutdowns, the NRC downgraded TP’s safety rating.

He also says the cooling-canal system is “closed cycle” and suggests we shouldn’t worry about it leaking wastewater into Biscayne Bay (or our drinking-water supply). His information is outdated.

FPL has admitted the system isn’t a closed-loop and that it is leaking. The leak is so significant, Miami-Dade has issued a notice-of-violation for it. FPL has vowed to work “aggressively” to clean it. The state, in a not-so-subtle contradiction, is trying to issue a permit authorizing TP to continue to leak.

Diaz supports the NRC’s decision allowing TP to limp along, on the false assumption we won’t experience more than a foot of sea-level rise by 2100. He downplays the inadequate sea-level assumptions because the reactor sits 20 feet above sea level. But he never mentions that the rest of the plant, especially its cooling canals and surrounding roads, isn’t nearly as high. He never explains how FPL plans to operate a reactor that sits on an island surrounded by submerged roads and inundated cooling canals.

Turkey Point is in trouble, and nothing Diaz wrote changes that.

This story was originally published September 24, 2021 at 10:44 AM with the headline "Safety at Turkey Point is concerning."