Our priority in everything we do is to protect the health and safety of the communities in which our facilities are located. This includes protecting the environment around our nuclear power plants, which generate emissions-free electricity 24/7.
We have nuclear plants in Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire and Wisconsin. These eight operating units avoid more than 25 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, which is equivalent to removing more than 5 million cars from the road annually.
We have a strong nuclear safety program that includes:
In addition, our nuclear fleet significantly benefits the economies of the communities and states in which they operate. Each site employs approximately 600 full-time, highly trained employees during regular operations and adds around 1,000 skilled contractors during scheduled refueling outages, which take place every 18-24 months. These jobs have an economic impact that cumulatively totals in the billions of dollars each year in addition to the plants themselves generating significant tax revenues that help to fund schools and critical municipal activities.
NextEra Energy continues to invest in its nuclear fleet to help ensure that the plants are among the best in the industry and can efficiently and reliably deliver power that customers can count on. Whether helping FPL provide its Florida customers with one of the lowest bills in the state or ensuring that NextEra Energy Resources' utility customers have the power they need to meet demand, the NextEra Energy nuclear fleet is playing a key role in safely providing reliable and emissions-free energy to millions of Americans.
In addition to upgrading existing facilities, FPL has been granted licensing to build two new nuclear units, that would total approximately 2,200 MW in capacity, or enough to power approximately 1.3 million homes, at our existing Turkey Point site south of Miami. FPL projects these units would provide the following benefits: