Controversy over Mexico’s Laguna Verde nuclear power plant has intensified following the publication here of a U.S. engineer’s assertion that equipment and procedural problems warrant shutting down the facility for repairs. David Lochbaum, a nuclear-safety engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental nonprofit headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, made the recommendation after reviewing a draft report on Laguna Verde by the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO). WANO, an international inspection body formed by the nuclear power industry following the 1986 Chernobyl accident, reportedly checked operations at the twin-reactor facility near Veracruz last November. Though WANO reports are usually kept confidential, the Greenpeace environmental group obtained a copy and forwarded it to Lochbaum for comment. In a letter to Alejandro Calvillo, executive... [Log in to read more]
