The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved the second license renewals for Florida Power and Light’s St. Lucie Nuclear Plant Units 1 and 2 in Jensen Beach, Fla. on Tuesday.
The subsequent license renewal extends operations through 2056 for Unit 1 and 2063 for Unit 2. NextEra Energy’s subsidiary Florida Power and Light said in a press release that this license renewal will continue to provide power generation for more than one million homes and businesses in Florida.
“This approval ensures that St. Lucie will continue to provide safe, reliable, low-cost energy for generations to come,” Scott Bores, president of Florida Power and Light, said in the release. “We are pleased that nuclear power will remain an integral part of Florida’s energy future and a vital contributor to the local and state economies.”
NRC’s decision to issue the license renewal comes a month after the agency published the final environmental report in the Federal Register on March 20. Florida Power and Light submitted its subsequent license renewal application for St. Lucie Units 1 and 2 in August 2021.
The decision also comes a week after NRC issued a subsequent license renewal for Duke Energy’s Robinson Nuclear Plant within a one-year timeframe.
St. Lucie is a dual-pressurized water reactor unit plant that generates around 2,000 megawatts. The operating license for Unit 1 was previously set to expire in 2036, with Unit 2 expiring in 2043. With the subsequent renewal, the Florida plant life has been extended from 60 years to 80 years of operation.
Now that St. Lucie received another license renewal, NextEra Energy said this completes the third subsequent license renewal out of its four nuclear stations it owns. NextEra, under its subsidiary NextEra Energy Resources, has received second license renewals for Turkey Point in Florida and Point Beach in Wisconsin.
NextEra Energy Resources’ Seabrook Station in New Hampshire received its first license renewal in 2019 and its renewed license is set to expire in March 2050.