FPL Turkey Point Nuclear, just a turkey ... Guest Blog by Barry White

Some statistics on Turkey Point 6 & 7, new nuclear reactors planned by FPL. The company claims the reactors will cost $18 Billion. That is the overnight cost, if you could build on the day after they said that. Experience shows you can increase that by 50% say $27 Billion. Divide that by the 4.4 million homes in the FPL service area and you get $6,136 per home or about 2.56% of the average value of a South Florida home.

And FPL will own the reactors. Ask the residents of Fukushima how they would assess the liability of nuclear reactors now.

FPL's current market cap is $25 Billiion. New nuclear is a sweet deal, for NextEra stockholders especially the Top Dogs. And by keeping the never to be reached carrot at the end of the Public Service Commission's stick, FPL can spend money for infrastructure they want for other reasons; Florida power companies have already been authorized $1.3 Billion of our money in early Nuclear Cost Recovery.

Early Cost Recovery means that an army of lobbyists are hard at work to make new nuclear in Homestead a reality. Are we suckers, or what? P.T.Barnum did spend a lot of time in Florida. He knew a sucker was born every minute but he never conceived of radiation with a half life of thousands of years. And since the NRC seems to answer to no one and climate change is not on their radar, they will probably license Turkey Point 6 and 7 the same way the Japanese licensed Fukushima-Daichi in a geologically dangerous area.

Nothing changes; the unholy alliance between the regulators and the regulated. And taxpayers are the victims. THE ENERGY REORGANIZATION ACT OF 1974 should be repealed. The NRC called Fukushima an accident; balderdash! It was an actuarial event waiting to happen, just like Turkey Point and its violations of water quality and God knows what else.

How could you evacuate 200,000 people near Turkey Point in an hour? In a disaster, residents will be toast and depending on wind direction, Miami could be directly threatened. (FPL already moved to Juno Beach.) Oh, by the way, the Federal government will underwrite Turkey Point 6 and 7: Wall Street won't. Too risky. But the Feds will put taxpayers on the hook. And if the demand for the power is not there, talk about white elephants. But they will be FPL white elephants, $27 billion worth, except we paid for them. Talk about a garage sale. Just follow the roads to Turkey Point, both of them. Oh, you'll probably have to go by boat, and maybe need snorkels or scuba gear. See picture.
Barry J. White - President,
CASE/Citizens Allied for Safe Energy, Inc.