By STEVE GIBBS Free Press Staff


KEY LARGO -- Drinking water impacts, and a lack of notification, continue to concern Monroe County officials as Florida Power Light seeks approval to build two additional nuclear reactors at Turkey Point.

Another sticking point is fecal rain.

The power provider's cooling canal system, and plans to expand it, worry David Ritz, president of the Ocean Reef Community Association and a board member of the Upper Keys' freshwater and electric utilities.

"That is a closed system using the same salt water over and over," Ritz said. "The water used to cool the existing two reactors comes out very hot. Since the 1970s much of that water has evaporated, thus increasing the salinity of the water. That heavy salt sinks to the bottom. When it gets to the cap rock it spreads out.

"We are concerned that it may spread into the Biscayne Aquifer."

The Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority, the Keys' source of fresh water, draws its water from that aquifer.

Ritz said another concern is FPL's proposal to use lightly-treated wastewater from Miami-Dade County instead of salt water to cool the two proposed reactors.

"The effluent forms a steam and it's expelled from the stacks into the air," Ritz said. "That effluent comes down in Biscayne Bay and on people's heads. Ocean Reef Club is only eight miles from Turkey Point. It's going to take quite a bit of research on the filtration system to dispel that problem."

The FPL application to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection also includes a proposal to dig an 840-acre rock mine to produce solid fill needed to elevate the twin reactor towers for storm surge protection.

Jim Reynolds, executive director of the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority, says that could make salt water intrusion into the aquifers all the more likely.

"If they dig too deep, that could exacerbate salt water intrusion," he said. "It is very frustrating."

Monroe County Commissioner Sylvia Murphy, who attended an FPL public hearing at KeysGate in Florida City in April, said she filled out a card requesting information on any future meetings and updates on the proposed $25 billion project.

"I pulled off the Web the people who should have been notified, and no one had received any notification," she said. "Jim Reynolds, [Tavernier resident] John Hammerstrom and I all signed up to be noticed on anything pertaining to the project. There was a meeting this last Monday [Aug. 31] of the South Florida Regional Planning Council at Homestead City Hall where this was discussed.

"When we were at KeysGate no one could make an official comment because FPL had not yet applied for its permits," Murphy said. "Last Monday I was told it's too late for official comment. Monroe County, Ocean Reef and FKAA never had a chance to officially comment."

FPL officials responded to questions from the Free Press with a general statement about the benefits provided by the two proposed reactors.

The additional nuclear power would add 2,200 megawatts of capacity, enough to power 745,000 homes, wrote Mayco Villafana.

"Our analysis indicate that the new nuclear units would save our customers more than $1billion a year in fuel once both units are in operation, or approximately $93 billion in fuel costs over the initial 40-year license," she stated. "New nuclear power gives us an important option for meeting the needs of South Florida."

sgibbs@keysnews.com