"Feds fine FPL's St. Lucie plant for terminating worker who raised safety issue", 18 September 2018

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has fined Florida Power & Light $232,000 for two violations of federal rules at its St. Lucie County plant.

One infraction involved FPL’s dismissal of a part-time employee of a third-party contractor at the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant after the worker raised a safety concern in 2017. The other violation occurred when a former vice president of FPL created a phony journal to justify the firing to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

FPL, a unit of NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE) of Juno Beach, said it will not contest the civil penalty.

“The notice of violation from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission concerned an incident in 2017 where no safety or security lapses occurred,” Florida Power & Light said in a statement. “We remain fully committed to ensuring a healthy nuclear safety culture exists at all of our facilities.”

According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in March 2017 a contract employee of Framatome, a company that provides refueling services to FPL, raised a safety issue in a “condition report.”