ifda dossier 74 - Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation

Mexico: Nuclear debaters fired
A number of scientists in Mexico have been victimized for opposing or criticizing the
pvenitnet~t's nuclear program. The following report is reprinted from the magazine Index on
Censorship (iia Wise, World Information Service on Energy, NÂ 316). The report was based
on information received from Mauricio Schoijei, a Mexican writer and teac/zer who has been
active in the anti-nuclear campaign over the last wo decades - through his articles on the
subject have not always been welcomed by tren,ous editors in his own land.
At 10 pin on 16 November 1988. during
tests on the reactor at the nuclear plant at
1,aguna Verde in the state of Veracruz, an
accident was caused by hydraulic instability,
a result of defective dfiign. Inhabitants of
the area stated afterwards that they had
clearly 1ie:ird an explosion. The plant mana-
ger denied that anything had happened.
Several members of the plant's tecliniciil
personnel, however, confirmed th:it tlie
explosion had indeed occurred iind further-
more charged that the plant's ni;in:igenicnt
was using untr;iined personnel and had
l'iiiled to ensure in the past that the con-
trading conlpany, RBASCO. redesign laulty
syslcms. Since the explosion, the surround-
ing area h:is been occupied liy tllc iirnied
forces in a move designed to intimid:ite tlie
local population, who had intended to
withdraw their children from school as a
niiirk of prolest, and force them to keep
sending then1 (to school) as usual.
Mexico's nuclear program is over 20 yeiirs
old, :incl through that period has been tlie
focus of considerable debate. In 1006. when
planning of the 1,aguna Verde nuclear plant
began. petroleum reserves were running out.
I'lie 1;irge oil fields ol' the soull~cni st;it~">
of Ch~:ip;is and 'I'lilxisco liad not yct been
discovered and nuclear power seemed an
ntcresting ;iltern:itive. 'I'iiere w;is as yet 110
real :i\v:ircncss of Hie problems of imclrar
waste or tlie possibility of large-scale accidents.
Nor did anyone then rccogni/e the
dangers 01 the particul:ir type of reader
chosen, the M:irk I1 lioilin~~iitcr Kerictor
m;iOr hy (icncriil I~lcclric. which in 1070
was found to be dangerous by the United
States Atomic Energy Comn~ission and later
recognized as defective in internal documents
of General Electric itself.
Despite the difficulties experienced with
Mexico's first nuclcar plant, [lie Lope/
Portillo government published an Lncrgy
Program in 1981, at the height of the oil
booni. dctiiiling plans for [lie construction
of nuclear plants that would produce 20,000
MW, ie something like Mexico's toi;il
present electrical capacity, by the year 2000.
A year later, as severe economic crisis hit
Mexico as a result of the Sal1 in oil prices,
Loped 1'ortillo cancelled his nuclear dream.
After taking office in 1982, the next presi-
dent, Migucl De I,a Madrid, began dis-
mantling and selling costly government
enterprises. But completing the Laguna
Verde project nevertheless rcni.'iincd an
niportant part of the ruling PRI's (Insti-
tutional Revolutionary Party) energy policy.
Significantly, opposition to a large-scale
nuclear program has come not only from
academics and ecological groups, but Srom
within the Fcderiil Kleclricitv Commission
(Cl"l;), Hie nationiilircd elcclriciil ~itilitie~
conipiiny. itself. A former project niiiniiger
of tlic I~guna Verde plant, Mr Isidoro
IScccrril. told /'ro('cso iiiag;i/~~ic in 1081 tli;it
11 would he nresponsible to build more
nuclear plants "without having been able to
solve the failure of the first one ..." He iilso
revealed that llicre were large cavities in llie
concrete structure surroundingllie ie:iclor.
and iiccused the supervising agency (tlic