Sep 19 - The Dallas Morning News

Mexico may become the latest oil-rich country looking seriously at nuclear power as a hedge against declining energy reserves, according to a plan outlined Monday by Energy Minister Fernando Canales Clariond.

Speaking at an energy conference in Vienna, Austria, Mr. Canales Clariond said Mexico's nuclear energy output could be doubled by building a second nuclear power plant as soon as possible.

The ministry plan, he said, will be handed to President-elect Felipe Calderon, a former energy minister who takes office Dec. 1. Mr. Calderon's presidential transition team had no comment.

"Those of us in the energy sector of the federal government are absolutely convinced of making this recommendation, subject to the approval of higher authorities, in this case, the president-elect and in the right moment, Congress," Mr. Canales Clariond said.

He spoke at the International Atomic Energy Agency's annual meeting, the Energy Ministry said.

Mexico's first nuclear plant, the Laguna Verde dual-reactor plant in the gulf state of Veracruz, is being expanded by General Electric Co. to increase output by 20 percent.

A spokesman for the environmental group Greenpeace in Mexico said the government plans to increase nuclear production without consulting the Mexican people.

"The worst part of this is that they are moving forward on these projects when we have a plant [Laguna Verde] that is already a disaster," said Greenpeace spokesman Arturo Moreno.

The Mexican government has said that Laguna Verde is safe.

Greenpeace prefers a combination of energy conservation and renewable energy from agricultural sources to expanding nuclear capacity, Mr. Moreno said.

Laguna Verde, which went into operation in 1990, produces about 5 percent of Mexico's energy.

The Mexico City newspaper El Universal quoted Mr. Canales Clariond as saying that a new plant would cost up to $3 billion and could take five years to build.

Mexico's state-run oil company Pemex produces about 3.2 million barrels of oil per day, about 80,000 per day less than last year due to declining reserves.

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