St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant

St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant is a twin nuclear power station located on Hutchinson Island, near Port St. Lucie in St. Lucie County, Florida. Both units are Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactors. Florida Power & Light commissioned the station in 1976 and continues to operate the station. Minor shares of Unit 2 are owned by the Florida Municipal Power Agency (8.81%) and the Orlando Utilities Commission (6.08%).

The plant contains two nuclear reactors in separate containment buildings. However, the plant does not have the classic hyperboloid cooling towers found at many inland reactor sites; instead, it uses nearby ocean water for coolant of the secondary system.

In 2003 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) extended the operating licenses of the St. Lucie units by twenty years, to March 1, 2036 for Unit 1 and April 6, 2043 for Unit 2.

Extended power update

In 2012, Extended Power Update modifications were completed, increasing the electric output from approximately 853 MW to 1,002 MW. The project involved replacing pipes, valves, pumps, heat exchangers, electrical transformers, and generators, some of which were original components of the plant.

Electricity production

Generation (MWh) of St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual (Total)
2001	1,279,964	1,152,193	1,191,863	707,773	1,166,289	1,208,322	1,224,673	1,261,433	1,257,951	1,225,825	1,109,734	651,066	13,437,086
2002	1,257,614	1,132,666	1,277,364	1,270,433	1,226,570	1,260,307	1,226,180	1,258,768	1,170,595	748,035	1,224,764	1,277,141	14,330,437
2003	1,275,678	1,150,578	1,267,927	897,407	634,992	845,616	1,269,451	1,270,333	1,213,963	1,260,749	1,226,294	1,079,016	13,392,004
2004	1,271,564	1,179,471	1,047,578	688,290	1,266,052	1,218,199	1,261,575	1,256,661	459,372	1,114,226	1,219,307	1,123,434	13,105,729
2005	657,658	811,664	1,263,896	1,219,975	1,255,421	1,214,753	1,251,099	1,211,355	1,200,381	839,092	601,381	842,635	12,369,310
2006	1,143,473	1,140,647	1,262,519	1,038,256	636,101	886,443	1,253,609	1,254,528	1,205,302	1,246,023	1,202,625	1,239,695	13,509,221
2007	1,261,653	1,143,553	1,259,140	609,350	676,573	1,210,873	1,248,036	943,668	1,168,004	626,719	616,172	625,754	11,389,495
2008	1,111,351	1,026,980	1,254,363	1,230,022	1,272,167	1,140,516	1,274,735	1,139,404	1,220,223	1,008,012	800,697	1,281,862	13,760,332
2009	1,284,034	1,162,264	1,256,792	1,074,529	638,925	923,915	918,838	1,255,686	790,957	1,245,577	1,222,384	1,280,857	13,054,758
2010	1,268,012	1,163,128	1,232,898	506,871	633,376	648,540	1,115,468	1,107,521	1,162,957	1,268,851	1,237,392	1,285,379	12,630,393
2011	665,606	577,883	637,182	593,443	996,384	1,210,703	1,285,712	1,131,161	1,241,306	1,063,997	1,040,228	664,151	11,107,756
2012	662,475	893,828	645,408	654,923	891,513	1,150,263	1,029,895	791,423	661,022	708,426	790,334	1,379,949	10,259,459
2013	1,504,421	1,358,823	1,030,537	1,428,195	1,469,986	1,327,843	1,497,946	1,487,721	1,393,654	746,636	1,075,620	1,298,529	15,619,911
2014	1,503,609	1,360,573	787,237	858,892	1,494,246	1,417,842	1,336,427	1,353,070	1,419,951	1,479,589	1,303,884	1,502,254	15,817,574
2015	1,506,481	1,237,641	1,252,070	593,003	1,485,412	1,440,480	1,499,099	1,420,471	867,682	847,970	1,431,959	1,492,996	15,075,264
2016	1,493,947	1,409,324	1,497,913	1,449,012	1,490,928	1,432,343	1,481,288	789,413	1,298,258	543,538	1,198,890	1,501,708	15,586,562
2017	1,482,601	957,494	882,240	1,448,133	1,494,814	1,449,325	1,494,275	1,484,117	1,382,972	1,399,853	1,449,723	1,502,373	16,427,920
2018	1,511,420	1,356,200	1,010,416	1,163,105	1,494,768	1,443,949	1,472,587	1,256,690	705,987	1,200,465	1,445,422	1,501,572	15,562,581
2019	1,507,966	1,366,005	1,506,782	1,314,475	745,160	940,204	1,491,455	1,482,733	1,071,040	1,045,921	990,694	1,503,193	14,965,628
2020	1,505,458	1,076,922	1,032,815	1,453,359	1,495,624	1,442,615	1,471,461	1,476,561	1,418,384	1,480,741	1,439,715	1,506,715	16,800,370
2021	1,411,571	1,360,091	1,501,864	935,022	1,061,074	1,439,066	1,481,220	1,373,682	708,539	--	1,441,954	1,439,600	14,153,683
2022	1,131,926	1,352,129	1,488,798	1,440,765	1,489,330	1,410,683	1,475,801	1,478,304	750,791	1,375,940	1,402,500	1,492,818	16,289,785
2023	1,495,043	1,074,270	1,034,279	1,444,507	1,485,557	1,429,982	1,445,283	1,478,483	1,420,496	1,480,388	1,433,522	1,239,626	16,461,436
2024	1,294,660	1,407,137	928,579	1,107,948	1,470,946	1,171,234	1,401,958	1,352,899	709,854	898,172	1,370,889	1,502,157	14,616,433
2025	1,507,401	1,355,094	1,498,754	1,420,513									--

Surrounding population

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of , concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about , concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.

The 2010 U.S. population within of Saint Lucie was 206,596, an increase of 49.7 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within was 1,271,947, an increase of 37.0 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Port St. Lucie (7.8 miles to city center), Ft. Pierce (8 miles to city center), Stuart and West Palm Beach (42 miles to city center).

Seismic risk

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Saint Lucie was 1 in 21,739, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.

Hurricane risk

In 2016 St. Lucie Power Plant shut down because of Hurricane Matthew. In 2017 the plant did not shut down due to Hurricane Irma.

See also

• List of power stations in Florida,.

External links

• FPL's About St. Lucie