MIAMI — A nuclear reactor owned by Florida's largest electric company automatically shut down Tuesday, causing sporadic power outages throughout the state that affected 3 million people. Authorities did not specify the cause of the shutdown but say there were no safety concerns.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that the two Florida Power & Light nuclear reactors at its Turkey Point power point 30 miles south of Miami automatically shut down. Two other power plants farther north in the state, the Crystal River reactor and St. Lucie twin reactors, continued to operate, although officials at those two facilities noticed the grid disturbance.
"We don't know whether the grid disturbance caused the units to shut down or that their shut down caused the grid disturbance," said Kenneth Clark, a spokesman at the NRC regional office in Atlanta. He said the two reactors were automatically shut down.
"There are no safety concerns. The reactors shut down as designed," said Clark in a telephone interview. He said both reactors continued to have offsite electric power. He said two coal-burning power plants at Turkey Point also shut down.