For Laguna Verde; power outages reported

The Laguna Verde nuclear power plant stopped its activities, which put the National Interconnected System on alert.

The two units of the nuclear power plant, located in Veracruz, stopped after a contingency was registered at 00:54 hours yesterday, according to reports from the National Energy Control Center (Cenace).

"The Eastern Regional Control Management of the National Interconnected System declares itself in an operational state of alert in the Poza Rica zone gate," Cenace stated in a warning.

The failure originated Tuesday night in a power transformer of the Laguna Verde substation, which carries energy to five lines that feed an equal number of states of the Republic, the CFE later admitted, while clarifying that "the safety of the plant was not compromised at any time, since the failure occurred in a substation".

Cenace ordered programmed interruptions in the electricity supply in four municipalities in the state of Veracruz, affecting some 44,996 users.

The two units of the power plant are in the start-up process, which must comply with a strict safety protocol, said CFE.

According to a specialist who requested anonymity, the failure occurred at the Laguna Verde connection point.