St. Lucie Nuclear Plant in Hutchinson Island, Florida

The St. Lucie Nuclear Plant is a two-reactor nuclear power station that the NRC places on Hutchinson Island in St. Lucie County (NRC, NUREG-1779).

The NRC uses two descriptions of where the St. Lucie Plant sits. Its 2003 license renewal safety evaluation, NUREG-1779, says Units 1 and 2 are located on Hutchinson Island in St. Lucie County, Florida (NUREG-1779 abstract). The agency's current reactor pages give the location as Jensen Beach, FL (10 miles SE of Ft. Pierce, FL), in NRC Region II (NRC, St. Lucie Plant, Unit 1). Both phrasings are the NRC's own and are quoted as printed. The operator named on those NRC pages is Florida Power & Light Co.

For St. Lucie County the nuclear plant is a standing planning duty. The county says it is home to one of the two operating nuclear power plants in Florida, and its Public Safety Department keeps a Radiological Emergency Preparedness (REP) Division that handles planning, training, exercises and response for any incident involving radiological materials at the plant (St. Lucie County, REP). The county also states that such an emergency is unlikely.

Unit 1 and Unit 2 at the St. Lucie Plant are Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactors, each licensed by the NRC at 3,020 megawatts thermal (NRC Unit 1 page; NRC Unit 2 page).

Every cell in the table comes from the two NRC reactor pages for the Hutchinson Island units (Unit 1; Unit 2). The 2003 safety evaluation describes each unit as designed to produce a core thermal power of 2,700 megawatts, or approximately 890 megawatts electric (NUREG-1779); the unit pages list licensed thermal power of 3,020 MWt.

NRC reactor pages give St. Lucie Plant licenses ending March 1, 2036 for Unit 1 and April 6, 2043 for Unit 2, while an NRC table lists a second renewal issued April 28, 2026 (NRC Unit 1; NRC subsequent license renewal status).

The first renewal of the Hutchinson Island units is documented in NUREG-1779. The renewal application was filed by letter dated November 29, 2001, and the NRC received it November 30, 2001; it asked for 20 years beyond the original expiration dates of March 1, 2016 for Unit 1 and April 6, 2023 for Unit 2; the abstract lists the license numbers as DPR-67 and NFP-16 (NUREG-1779 abstract). Both unit pages record the renewed licenses as issued on 10/02/03 (NRC Unit 2).

A second round followed. The NRC defines subsequent license renewal as the period of extended operation from 60 years to 80 years, and its table of completed applications lists St. Lucie Plant, Units 1 & 2 with the application received 08/03/2021 and the renewed license issued 04/28/2026 (Status of Subsequent License Renewal Applications). In the column headed Date Entering Subsequent Period of Extended Operation, that row prints 03/01/2056 for Unit 1 and 04/06/2063 for Unit 2. The NRC unit pages, updated September 14, 2026, give License Expires dates of 03/01/2036 for Unit 1 (NRC Unit 1) and 04/06/2043 for Unit 2 (NRC Unit 2).

Federal planning draws two zones around the St. Lucie Plant: a plume exposure zone about 10 miles in radius and an ingestion zone about 50 miles in radius (NRC, Emergency Planning Zones; St. Lucie County, Radiological Agricultural Information).

In the NRC's general description of the two zones that also frame planning around the Hutchinson Island plant, protective action plans inside the 10 mile plume exposure pathway are meant to avoid or reduce dose from exposures such as inhaling radioactive particles, and the actions include sheltering, evacuation and potassium iodide pills where appropriate. Inside the 50 mile ingestion exposure pathway the plans aim to avoid dose from eating or drinking radioactive materials, and the actions include a ban of contaminated food and water. The NRC adds that each plant's zone size and shape vary with specific site conditions, unique geographical features and demographic information (NRC, Emergency Planning Zones).

St. Lucie County restates the same split for residents near the nuclear plant: people within a 10 mile radius should know the protective measures against direct exposure, and people within 50 miles should know the measures against potentially contaminated foods and liquids, the area the county calls the Ingestion Pathway Zone (Radiological Agricultural Information). For evacuation zones, the county's Emergency Preparedness Portal links an evacuation zone page for checking a Hutchinson Island, Fort Pierce or Port St. Lucie address (Emergency Preparedness Portal).

St. Lucie County tells residents that if officials issue protective actions for the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant, the options are to shelter in place, meaning go inside and stay inside, or to evacuate by following evacuation routes (St. Lucie County, REP Preparedness).

The rows come from the county's agricultural information page and its preparedness page (Radiological Agricultural Information; REP Preparedness). The county says the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant warning sirens are positioned throughout St. Lucie County and are designed to alert people while they are outside a home or business; REP staff test them routinely on the first Thursday of March, June, September and December (REP Preparedness, siren system).

The county's instruction for the moment of warning is to wait for direction: state and county emergency organizations decide the protective actions, officials release status updates to the media, and residents should not act unless emergency officials advise them to (Radiological Agricultural Information). Ahead of time, St. Lucie County asks residents to sign up for Alert St. Lucie texts, emails or calls at stlucieco.gov/alert, and during any emergency to monitor the county EOC web page, radio and television (Emergency Preparedness Portal).

The St. Lucie County REP Division reviews its Radiological Emergency Preparedness Plan every year against FEMA guidelines and runs drills and exercises that FEMA evaluates (REP Preparedness).

Each year REP staff train St. Lucie County first responders in basic radiological emergency protocols and procedures. The drills the county lists cover communications, medical service, emergency worker decontamination, the ingestion pathway and the post-plume phase, and its evaluated exercises include ingestion exposure pathway and plume exposure pathway scenarios (REP Preparedness, training and exercise). The county says the REP Division works closely with numerous federal, state and local agencies in its planning (REP Preparedness, plan).

Farms get their own guidance because of the 50 mile ingestion zone. The county's pamphlet for the agriculture community within 50 miles says farm animals are not normally evacuated, so sheltering them in enclosed buildings, dairy animals first, is the main step, and animals should not graze unless an extension agent or other state or local official directs it (Radiological Agricultural Information). It names milk as the most critical food product within 50 miles and lists removing dairy animals from contaminated pasture onto stored feed as a protective action. Last verified: October 22, 2026, through the NRC Unit 1, Unit 2, NUREG-1779, planning zone and subsequent renewal pages and the St. Lucie County REP, preparedness, agricultural and emergency portal pages, all fetched again for this Hutchinson Island page.