The Mexican government’s announcement of its plan to build one or two nuclear power plants has environmentalists opposed to atomic energy up in arms. “This is terrible news. We already have one nuclear plant (Laguna Verde) and it is a hazard because its operation has been plagued with irregularities. Building more will only create more problems,” Arturo Moreno, director of energy issues at Greenpeace-Mexico, told Tierramérica.

The Energy Secretariat said that the fate of the new reactors would be decided by Mexico's President-Elect Felipe Calderón, who takes office in December. However, he is expected to give the project a green light, because he has said it “is safe and environmentally friendly.”

The Laguna Verde nuclear plant in the state of Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico, produces approximately five percent of the country's electricity. Environmentalists call the facilities unsafe and badly managed, but the government says they are among the world's best.