Mexico's Secretary of Energy (Sener) Rocío Nahle García has granted the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE – Federal Electricity Commission) renewal of the operating licence for unit 2 of the Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Plant (LVNPP). The licence has the technical endorsement of the Comisión Nacional de Seguridad Nuclear y Salvaguardias (CNSNS - National Commission for Nuclear Safety and Safeguards) and is valid from 11 April 11 2025 to 10 April 2055. Thirty-year licence extensions are not common. Normally safety regulators authorise extensions of 10 or 20 years.
CFE noted: “With this extension, CFE remains at the forefront of clean energy production in the country and continues as the guarantor of the reliability of the National Electric System, which remains under siege by foreign interests who disagree with Mexicans generating their own electricity.”
CFE applied to CNSNS for the unit 2 licence renewal in 2015 initiating a five-year period which saw 47 programmes of inspections, testing, and monitoring of equipment, systems and structures, in accordance with the regulatory framework. During the review process there were 386 requests for additional information, and multiple technical queries over 13 audits and inspections. Unit 1 underwent a similar process and received its extension in 2020, allowing it to operate until 2050.
Laguna Verde, the only NPP in Mexico, is owned and operated by CFE. Unit 1 began operation in 1989, followed by unit 2 five years later. Both are 775MWe boiling water reactors supplied by GE. Nuclear power supplies 3-4% of Mexico's electricity. Discussions on building more NPPs are ongoing.
Image: Mexico's Energy Ministry has granted CFE renewal of the operating licence for unit 2 of the Laguna Verde NPP (courtesy of CFE)
