Sener and CFE tour Laguna Verde during nuclear fuel reload

Energy Secretary Luz Elena González Escobar and Emilia Calleja Alor, director general of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), visited the Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Plant in Alto Lucero, Veracruz, on October 23, 2026, and witnessed the nuclear fuel reload process, El Financiero reported. The two-unit plant supplies 1,600 MW of firm energy to the National Electric System (SEN).

It is the country's only nuclear power facility. According to the CFE bulletin, the reload is carried out on a scheduled basis every 18 months and replaces roughly one third of the fuel assemblies in the reactor core. During that period, inspections and specialized maintenance are also carried out, including on the steam turbine. For the SEN, which relies heavily on combined-cycle plants fueled by natural gas imported from the United States, the continuous operation of Laguna Verde represents a block of generation with its own fuel and no greenhouse gas emissions.

The reload outage has direct implications for the electric market in the Gulf region. Its fuel is renewed in 18-month cycles, so its dispatch does not compete with daily gas imports from the Permian Basin, although a prolonged reload outage reduces the system's availability of firm energy. The secretariats described the visit as a space for dialogue and coordination between Energy and CFE to address the priorities of the national electric sector, according to Energy & Commerce. The officials also learned about compliance with safety standards during the maneuvers, according to the same coverage and the CFE statement.

The licensing calendar frames the value of the reload: World Nuclear News reported in 2022 that unit 2 received a 30-year renewal, valid from April 11, 2025 to April 10, 2055. The technical work underway sustains, for now, the availability of the asset while CFE and the Energy Secretariat define how future demand will be met.

The next milestones to watch are the date the unit under reload returns to operation and any update to the nuclear portfolio in the Special Program for Energy Transition.

This article was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence based on verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.