Statewide, Florida has 70 power plants totaling about 60,000 megawatts of electricity to serve 19 million residents and thousands of businesses. Since 1972, a significant portion of this has been provided by nuclear power plants quietly generating about 4,000 MW of clean, emission-free, reliable energy.
These high capacity plants operate continuously for many years with few disruptions and without reliance on intermittent fuel supplies or sunny or windy days. Their operating costs are very low because of the energy content of nuclear fuel which allows a nuclear plant to operate for 18 months on one fuel batch. A similar coal plant would require 15,000 railroad cars of coal to provide the same 18 months of energy. Accordingly, the cost of electricity from nuclear plants has been among the lowest compared with other power plant types.
Florida hasn’t built a new nuclear plant since 1983, yet Florida’s population has doubled since then.
Only about 13 percent of Florida’s electricity now comes from emission-free nuclear energy. Fortunately the state and its utilities have considered modest development of additional nuclear energy. FPL is investing in expansion of two existing nuclear plants which will combine to provide an additional 500 MW of electricity without building an additional plant. This is a good step.
Of course, the construction costs for a nuclear power plant are greater than other types of plants. But over time, the overall costs of electricity from nuclear plants tends to be the lowest because nuclear plants operate for decades and supply massive quantities of electricity from nuclear fuel that’s very low cost compared to the costs of fossil fuels.
As ratepayers, we should closely scrutinize the costs of power plants. But remember, a diversity of energy sources offers benefits to Florida. Natural gas is inexpensive today, but was the most expensive energy source two years ago. Our Public Service Commission should apply this scrutiny for us, ensuring we have the best energy mix. We must, however, recognize the long-term value of investing in nuclear energy as a key part of Florida’s future.
James Tulenko, professor emeritus, nuclear engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville