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Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Plant (LVNPP) is located on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, in Alto Lucero, Veracruz, Mexico. It is the only nuclear power plant in Mexico〔 〕 and produces about 4.5% of the country's electrical energy. It consists of two units GE Boiling Water Reactors (BWR-5) each one with installed capacity of using low enriched uranium (3%) as fuel. Unit-1 (U-1) started its operation on July 29, 1990. Unit-2 (U-2) started its operation on April 10, 1995. Initial architects in 1975 for the plant were Burns and Roe Inc and later Ebasco Services designed and supervised the project. The steam turbine and other components were manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric (licensed by CFE) The plant is owned and operated by Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), the national electric company owned by the Mexican government. Laguna Verde has been considered a strategic facility for Sistema Eléctrico Nacional (SEN/National Power System), due to its high power generation capacity, lowest operating cost, and frequency and voltage regulation capacity. All the electric power generated is delivered to its single client: Centro Nacional de Control de Energía (CENACE/National Energy Control Center). CENACE is entrusted with the function of planning, directing, and supervising the transmission and distribution of electric power to end user. CENACE has classified LVNPP as Base Load Power Plant since the beginning of its operations. The annual generation average for LVNPP in the last 5 years has been of 10,5 TWh, electric energy sufficient to meet the demand of more than 4 million inhabitants. May 5, 2011, several news agencies released false information stating that an explosion had taken place at the plant. The CFE and the Mexican government have both stated that this information is completely false and that the plant is operating as usual. ==Description== The generation of electric power at the CLV is based on the technology of nuclear fission of Uranium atoms, which takes place in the reactor. The energy released by the nuclear fission is transferred as heat from the fuel to the cooling water, which boils into steam. The quality of steam is controlled through a separator and dryer. The separator and dryer are part of the internal processes of the reactor pressure vessel. Steam flow rate from each reactor is 3,944 kilotons/hour (kt/h) to generate 682 MWe of electric power. Both Reactor Units (U1 and U2) operate using 444 enriched uranium assemblies, storing power equal to 38.9 million oil barrels. This nuclear fuel is specifically designed to be admitted into the core of the reactor. The fuel is purchased only from qualified vendors worldwide. After 18 months of operation, between 25% and 30% of the nuclear fuel is replaced. This activity is called "Refueling Outage" process. The turbine transforms power from steam (kinetic energy) into mechanical energy causing an electric generator to move (electric power production). Once the steam has gone through the turbine, it is cooled in a condenser; the water obtained in this manner is pumped again toward the nuclear reactor, to restart the generation cycle. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Station」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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