Florida City, FL – Operators safely shut down Turkey Point Nuclear Station Unit 4 shortly after midnight on March 30, 2008, for a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage.  

During the outage, workers will perform inspections and maintenance activities on a variety of plant components and systems. This includes replacing nearly a third of the reactor’s fuel. Many of the activities performed during the shutdown cannot be performed while the plant is running, and all are designed to ensure the safe and reliable production of electricity through the next 18-month operating cycle.  

To support this effort, the station will utilize the talents and expertise of more than 1,000 additional workers, many of whom are skilled tradesmen residing in the Miami-Dade area. Others travel to Turkey Point from outside the region, providing a temporary benefit for the local economy.  

“The Turkey Point team spends over a year preparing for a unit’s refueling outage,” said Site Vice President Bill Jefferson. “It’s now time to put our plan into action and safely perform the work necessary to ensure that the unit will run safely and reliably during its next operating cycle and provide electricity to Florida residents.”

The 11,000-acre Turkey Point site is located about 25 miles south of Miami on Biscayne Bay and consists of five generating units using a diverse selection of fuels to produce electricity for south Florida homes and businesses. One unit uses natural gas, two units use oil and natural gas, and two units use nuclear power. FPL seeks diversity in fuel sources as a means to stabilize prices and assure reliability for the future.   

Florida Power & Light Company is a subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE:FPL), nationally known as a high quality, efficient and customer-driven organization focused on energy-related products and services. With annual revenues of over $15 billion and a growing presence in 27 states, FPL Group is widely recognized as one of the country's premier power companies. Florida Power & Light Company serves 4.5 million customer accounts in Florida. FPL Energy, LLC, FPL Group's competitive energy subsidiary, is a leader in producing electricity from clean and renewable fuels. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.FPL.com, www.FPLGroup.com and www.FPLEnergy.com.