Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Nuclear Country Notes

Mexico

There is a single nuclear power station with two BWR units of total net capacity 1 310 MWe, located at Laguna Verde in the eastern state of Veracruz. The first unit was brought into operation in April 1989 and the second in November 1994. Laguna Verde's electricity output accounted for 5% of Mexico's total net generation in 2005.

In its submission for the present Survey, the Mexican WEC Member Committee reported that while there were no definite plans to expand the use of nuclear energy, upgrading the existing units had been openly discussed in order to increase their output by around 10%. Several officials, including the Energy Secretary and the president of the national utility, had publicly called for an open discussion to re-initiate the nuclear power programme.

In March 2005, the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) was reported to be considering the construction of some 10 000 MWe of new nuclear capacity. The possible expansion of nuclear power capacity could include additional units at Laguna Verde as well as installations at two new sites.

A year later, the CFE Director-General announced that the commission aimed to construct a new NPP by 2020 at the latest, to help meet rising electricity demand. He also stated that CFE was spending $ 150 million on raising the capacity of the two Laguna Verde reactors. A major retrofit project for Laguna Verde was announced in March 2007; when completed in 2010, the capacity of each unit will have been increased by 20% to about 785 MWe.