Feds say Turkey Point staff falsified records. FPL says it will pay proposed $150,000 fine

Federal investigators say employees at Turkey Point nuclear power plant in Homestead falsified records and deliberately recorded inaccurate information on maintenance reports in 2019.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended Thursday that Florida Power & Light, which operates the power plant on south Biscayne Bay, be fined $150,000 for the violations.

The utility said Friday that it will pay the civil fine, and that it had also conducted its own investigation, which resulted in the firing of the employees involved in the inquiry.

“Turkey Point does not compromise when it comes to safety. As soon as we became aware of these situations, which occurred in 2019, we conducted a thorough investigation and the individuals involved no longer work for Florida Power & Light,” Megan Murphy Salyer, FPL spokeswoman, said in an email.

The NRC said in a press release that two of its investigations in 2020 “determined FPL employees engaged in deliberate misconduct” the year before.

The first investigation confirmed that three mechanics falsified information on a work order associated with the inspection and maintenance of a safety-related check valve, the agency said.

The second probe found that two technicians provided inaccurate information on maintenance records related to a “mispositioned plant component,” the NRC said in the release.

“The NRC also found that a supervisor and a department head influenced others in the department to conceal this maintenance error,” the release states.

Federal investigators said that the violations they found “did not result in an increased risk to the public, and FPL has initiated corrective actions to prevent a recurrence of the events leading to the violations.”