Turkey Point Reactor Shutdown Prompts NRC Inspections

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will increase oversight at Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant.
This facility is approximately 6 Miles east of Homestead on Biscayne Bay. Why is this important?  Below is picture of the facility and a diagram map from the Environmental Report providing a 50-mile radius of the facility.  Broward County may appear far to us but not when it comes to Nuclear Fallout.  If anyone needs any reminders here's the link to a picture of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant in Japan.

FPL Turkey Point Environmental Report - Operating License Renewal Stage Units 3 and 4
Plant-Specific Actions in Response to the Japan Nuclear Accident at Turkey Point Unit 3

Reference Links:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2013/13-037.ii.pdf

Reactor shutdowns prompt inspections at Turkey Point - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com

http://blogs.cas.suffolk.edu/jtl192/2012/10/23/fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-disaster/

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Homestead Annexation Area Study Heads to East Side

The Homestead City Council decided it was not worth battling the residents' opposition to conduct a feasibility study on the West, North, and Northwest annexation areas. A study will be conducted on the East side annexation area only. This area mostly outside the Urban Development Boundary (UDB) bounded by the eastern city boundary to the west, Homestead Air Force Base to the North, Turkey Point to the South and Biscayne Bay to the East in mostly unpopulated.

Reference Links:
http://southdadenewsleader.com/issue/south-dade-news-leader/article/homestead-approves-annexation-study-for-east-side-only

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/16/3401157/homestead-drops-talk-of-annexing.html

Urban Development Boundary Map.

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Board of County Commissioners 12/13/12 Zoning Hearing on Turkey Point

The below link contains the files for the application, including letters, graphics and impact analysis.

http://www.miamidade.gov/business/track/zoning_show.asp?proc_num=Z2012000090

9,219 acre project, water reuse for the two approved reactors to be discussed. 

http://www.eco-voice.org/node/13321

FPL intends to use some 90 million gallons a day of treated wastewater from Miami-Dade County as the primary source of cooling water for its controversial $12 billion to $18 billion expansion project at the sprawling plant, which sits along south Biscayne Bay a few miles from the park headquarters.

But the utility also wants to drill a series of “radial wells’’ — named because they include up to a dozen shafts radiating out 900 feet from a central well, a design evoking bicycle spokes — that would be capable of drawing up to 125 million gallons a day of water through the porous limestone beneath the bay.

A report by the South Florida Water Management District noted “some concerns” the wells could potentially turn already too-salty coastal waters saltier, compromise Everglades restoration projects to restore fresh water flows to the bay and worsen salt-water intrusion that has already marched inland in South Miami-Dade and threatened drinking water supplies.

But the district’s analysis, based on computer modeling supplied by FPL, also recommended approval of the wells – under the condition that the utility operate them no more than the “equivalent of 60 days” over a 12-month period and monitor impacts on sea grass. The proposal faces several more hurdles before final state approval.

Mark Lewis, superintendent of Biscayne National Park, urged the district’s governing board to postpone the vote, saying the district had not consulted with park scientists as it had in past studies of Turkey Point’s impacts on surrounding shallow waters, which are thick with sea grass beds and mangroves that serve as nurseries for an array of marine life.

According to FPL’s computer modeling, 97 percent of the water collected by the wells would be salty bay water but Lewis called that work “suspect,” saying the geologic zone where sea water meets the Biscayne Aquifer, source of much of Miami-Dade’s drinking water, is not well understood. FPL and water managers, for instance, are still working to assess the role Turkey Point’s existing cooling canal system has played in pushing salty water inland.

“We’re betting the bank that the modeling works when all of our scientists say the modeling isn’t designed for this and isn’t really good in this region,” Lewis said.

Environmentalists echoed Lewis, saying the complicated report on a well system untested in South Florida’s porous limestone geology had been available for only a week. They also called a proposed monitoring plan toothless because it included no specific measures for FPL to scale back the wells or pursue another back-up source, such as the deep Floridan aquifer, if the wells prove more damaging than modeling predicts.

“The question is who is on the hook to deal with the impacts,” said Kahlil Kettering, a Biscayne Bay analyst for the National Parks Conservation Association.

Laura Reynolds, executive director of the Tropical Audubon Society, questioned whether the wells were intended solely as a back-up, saying the 60-day language would potentially allow continuous low-level operation in a bay starved for freshwater.

Peter Robbins, a spokesman for FPL, said the wells were “absolutely a back-up system’’ and the utility preferred to treated wastewater over salt water but needed the short-term back-up because of potential uncertainties over the quality or quantity of wastewater. He downplayed potential impacts to the Biscayne 
Aquifer, saying the modeling was “tremendously conservative’’ and based on a scenario using wells as a full-time supply rather than the 60-day limit FPL has agreed to..

Juan Portuondo, a Miami businessman who serves on the governing board, said both FPL and the county had vested interests in making treated sewage work. Under state law, Miami-Dade has to find a way to reuse some 117 million gallons a day of sewage by 2025 that it now pumps up out to the Atlantic, he said. “It’s the best solution for both.’’

Board members briefly discussed postponing the vote but unanimously approved it after hearing the agency faced a Monday deadline for filing recommendations to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Other agencies, including Miami-Dade County, which also has questioned the wells, will file similar recommendations. An administrative judge is expected to issue a recommendation sometime next year. Final approval will go to Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet.

FPL hopes to secure its license from federal regulators for the two new reactors by June 2014. If the utility goes ahead with the project, the new reactors would be scheduled to go online in 2022 and 2023.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/12/v-print/2893242/fpls-nuke-cooling-plan-clears.html#storylink=cpy

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Commercial Yellowtail Fishing Harvest Closing on 9/11/12

Commercial fishing for popular snapper species is likely to end Sept. 11, hurting fishermen, restaurants and markets

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/05/v-fullstory/2984660/commercial-harvest-of-yellowtail.html#storylink=cpy

By SUSAN COCKING

scocking@miamiherald.com

Eat up while you can. In the next week or so, yellowtail snapper — a delectable and pricey seafood treat — is going to become scarce and more expensive in South Florida and a lot of other places.
For the first time, the commercial harvest of yellowtail in the South Atlantic from the Carolinas to the Keys is set to close just after midnight on Sept. 11. And unless federal fisheries managers act quickly, catching and selling the tasty reef fish could be prohibited in the region through the end of the year.
The closure — which applies to federal waters (more than three miles from shore) — was announced just before the Labor Day holiday weekend by NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency responsible for managing saltwater fishing in the U.S. It came as a shock to commercial fishers, seafood markets and restaurants in South Florida.
“What we have is our own personal 9/11, and the terrorist happens to be the federal government,” said Tom Hill, president of Key Largo Fisheries, which sells yellowtail to about 300 retailers, restaurants and other businesses from Key West to Fort Lauderdale. “This caught everybody off guard. It puts everybody in a scramble.”
Hill and other seafood dealers say the closure will put some fishermen out of work and drive up the price of yellowtail, which isn’t cheap at about $12 per pound for a fillet.
What triggered the closure is a little-known provision of a federal law known as the Magnuson-Stevens Act that took effect earlier this year. The law requires federal fisheries managers to set annual catch limits for many popular saltwater species in order to prevent overfishing, which means catching fish faster than they can reproduce. On the recommendation of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, NOAA Fisheries set the annual catch limit of yellowtail at 1,142,589 pounds for commercial fishers and 1,031,286 pounds for recreational anglers. Those allocations were based on historical landings for the species, which come mainly from the Keys. Last week, NOAA announced it estimated that the commercial catch limit would be reached by Sept. 11 and the fishery would have to close until Jan. 1.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/05/v-fullstory/2984660/commercial-harvest-of-yellowtail.html#storylink=cpy

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