Florida Power and Light said on Thursday it will reorganize its nuclear division this spring in a move that will probably eliminate 120 jobs from the state’s largest utility.
The job cuts are part of FPL’s ongoing effort to consolidate its work force and keep costs down. Toward those efforts, the company said it is conducting a three-month review of its nuclear operations.
The review was announced Thursday in an internal memo distributed to FPL employees by Nuclear Division President Thomas F. Plunkett.
The review follows several mishaps last year at FPL’s nuclear plant in St. Lucie County that impeded the plant’s operation.
In November, the utility was fined a $50,000 civil penalty related to federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission citations for inoperable equipment and failure to conduct proper testing at the plant.
The review is part of an attempt by FPL to decentralize its operations and probably will result in the relocation of about 60 employees from FPL’s Juno Beach headquarters to the nuclear plants in St. Lucie County and south Dade.
The jobs to be cut will likely come from Juno Beach.
The reorganization of the nuclear division will be completed by the end of June, said Plunkett, a former site vice president at the Turkey Point nuclear power plant who replaced the retired Jerome Goldberg in February.
