The estimated cost of uprating Florida Power & Light's four existing nuclear units has risen sharply from the previous estimate because of higher-than-expected labor, engineering and other costs, FPL said in late April.
The FPL initially told Florida's Public Service Commission (PSC) its estimate for increasing the generating capacity of two nuclear units at its Port St. Lucie station and two nuclear units at its Turkey Point plant would cost between $2.32 billion and $2.48 billion. However, the utility now figures the project will cost between $2.95 billion and $3.15 billion—up by roughly $600 million, or 27%.