Mexico pressed to hire international nuclear auditor

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -- Environmental group Greenpeace appealed to Mexico Wednesday to hire international auditors for an upcoming safety inspection at the nation's only nuclear power plant.

"It is important to conduct a truly independent audit of the Laguna Verde plant to understand the magnitude of its problems," Greenpeace Mexico Director Alejandro Calvillo said at a news conference.

"So far, discussions between Greenpeace and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) over an independent auditor have not been clear," he added, saying the CFE had excluded environmental groups from the decision process.

Calvillo said he would propose three potential candidates to audit the plant, a company from Britain and two expert consultants from the United States, when he meets Thursday with CFE Director Alfredo Elias Ayub.

He would not identify potential candidates for the project but added the British company would charge about $100,800 for an inspection lasting six weeks, not including expenses.

The government said in June it would inspect the Laguna Verde plant after a Greenpeace report said it was on the verge of a nuclear catastrophe that could rival Ukraine's Chernobyl.

Mexico, which has yet to say who will audit the plant, has said Laguna Verde poses no safety threat, though it agreed to an evaluation in order to dispel doubts.

Calvillo said a "transparent" audit of the Laguna Verde nuclear plant would be impossible under the government's existing proposal because the CFE would be able to filter all information provided to the auditor.

Experts cited by environmental groups say that fallout from a disaster at Laguna Verde, on Mexico's Gulf coast, would reach the southern shores of the United States within hours.

The plant has had at least two major equipment failures that caused shutdowns, in 1994 and last year, Greenpeace said.

The Laguna Verde nuclear plant began operating in 1989 and generated 3.67 percent of Mexico's electrical power in the third quarter last year. The plant is in Veracruz state, just 175 miles (275 km) east of Mexico City, one of the world's biggest cities.

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