Derived of their operation cycles, the nuclear power plant has generated (as any other installation of its type) radioactive wastes of low activity that at the moment are temporarily stored in the site. During this time, the Unit 1 has generated more of 88.85 million mega watt-hour and the Unit 2 more of 69.48 million mega watt-hour with an availability average of 83.55%. The nuclear power plant of Laguna Verde located in the Gulf of Mexico, completes in this 2009, nineteen years to produce by nuclear means 4.78% of the electric power that Mexico requires daily. Verdalet de la Torre, O., E-mail: [Comision Federal de Electricidad, Central Nucleoelectrica de Laguna Verde, Carretera Nautla-Cardel Km.
Super compacting of drums with dry solid radioactive waste in the nuclear power plant of Laguna Verde Super compactacion de bidones con desecho radiactivo solido seco en la central nucleo electrica Laguna Verde Surrounding this primary containment will be a reactor building which serves as a secondary low-pressure containment, able to operate at pressures up to 0.2 atmospheres. The purpose of the primary containment is to retain steam and gases that might escape in an emergency and to direct these through relief tubes to a water pond for cooling. The dry well contains the reactor itself and has two layers: the leak-tight steel liner and the heavy concrete building. The photos show, in general, the construction of the primary containment for the reactors (the dry wells).
Laguna Verde consists of two 600 MWe units and the plant is scheduled for commercial operation in 1982. The following photos of Laguna Verde, Mexico's first nuclear power station being constructed at Alta Lucero in Vera Cruz, give an impression of how strong this concrete and steel containment actually is. A substantial component contributing to safety in a nuclear power plant is the containment. This includes the accident that occurred in March 1979 at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in the USA. The important fact remains, however, that there has not been a single radiation-induced fatality or serious injury at any civilian nuclear power plant during 20 years of nuclear power generation.
Despite these precautions, nuclear safety is still a widely-discussed issue. There are many barriers between the fission products produced in the fuel elements of the core, and the environment: the cladding of the fuel pins which are enclosed in the reactor core, the pressure vessel containing the core and which in turn is enclosed in the reactor containment, all this being located in a low-pressure secondary containment or reactor building. Safety is one of the main factors in the construction and operation of a modern nuclear power plant. Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)