This Wednesday, the Council of Ministers approved the seventh General Plan for Radioactive Waste, which establishes the roadmap for the treatment of this dangerous waste that, fundamentally, comes from nuclear power plants. Precisely, this plan, whose approval comes eight years late, is an essential piece so that Spain can undertake the orderly closure of the five plants that are still active, which will begin in 2027 and will be completed in 2035. This closure implies a complex process of dismantling the facilities and the subsequent treatment of radioactive waste.
Very low, low and medium activity waste will go to El Cabril, the warehouse located in the province of Córdoba, which must be expanded. The problem has always been with high activity fuels (which come mainly from the dangerous spent fuel used in power plants).
The current waste plan, which dated back to 2006, called for the construction of a centralized temporary warehouse (known by its nickname ATC) in which the uranium used in the plants would be stored for decades, until Spain has a definitive deposit. During the second term of the socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the process was opened to decide the location to locate the ATC. But it was Mariano Rajoy's Executive that finally designated, as soon as it arrived at La Moncloa, Villar de Cañas, in Cuenca, as the place where this infrastructure would be built. This location – which was not the best, according to different voices – was chosen largely due to the efforts made by the popular María Dolores de Cospedal, then president of Castilla-La Mancha. But when the PSOE returned to govern in this community, the regional Executive launched a war to stop the project. Finally, when the PSOE returned to La Moncloa in 2018, it definitively paralyzed the project, on which 90 million euros were spent.
Now, in the seventh plan, the ATC is definitively given the finishing touch. Because the solution chosen is that a temporary warehouse will be built at each plant. In total, there will be seven: one in each of the five plants still active, in addition to another two located in the Garoña and José Cabrera nuclear plants, which are already in the process of dismantling. In the same Council of Ministers it has been agreed to “remove the designation of Villar de Cañas” to house the ATC, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition has reported.
The Government's plan also considers these seven locations as a temporary solution. The final one is expected to be operational in the seventies of this century. It will be the future Deep Geological Warehouse (AGP) and the document approved this Wednesday establishes “a roadmap so that Spain can have” this facility. This infrastructure is what other countries such as Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and France have opted for, Ecological Transition has highlighted. Although none of these silos are yet in operation.
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The approval of this plan, which was pending with the advance of the last general elections, was essential to be able to advance in the closure of the plants in Spain, because the destination of high-level waste was not clear. During the processing phase of the plan, and almost until the end of the process, the Government had left the door open for a single ATC to be built for all the country's nuclear waste. But no autonomous community offered to host that silo, so the Executive finally opted for the solution of the seven warehouses that is now confirmed. That is, each plant will keep the most dangerous waste until the AGP exists in 50 years.
In 2019, the Government and the companies that own the nuclear plants – Iberdrola, Endesa and Naturgy – agreed on a calendar for the closure of the country's five plants, which will end in 2035. A public company is responsible for the management of radioactive waste in Spain. : Enresa. But it is financed, mainly, with the fees paid by electricity companies to treat these hazardous wastes. The seventh plan contemplates “future costs of 20.22 billion euros,” the ministry detailed this Wednesday. This figure corresponds to the expected expenses in waste management for the period between 2024 and 2100. The solution of the seven warehouses, instead of one centralized one, will make management more expensive by 2,125 million.
Five active plants and two under dismantling
Spain currently has seven active reactors spread across five nuclear power plants. There are two reactors in operation at the Almaraz plant in Cáceres, as well as at the Ascó plant (Tarragona). The other three facilities in operation are Cofrentes (Valencia), Vandellós (Tarragona) and Trillo (Guadalajara). In addition, there are two other plants under dismantling: José Cabrera, in the final phase, and Santa María de Garoña, in the initial phase.
These seven reactors provide around 20% of the country's electricity and were initially designed to operate for 40 years. This barrier can be overcome, although it must be accompanied by improvements that involve important investments that may not pay off for the owners. In 2019, the owner companies closed a closure schedule with the Government that will end in 2035. By that date, according to the Executive's energy plans, the national electrical system will operate without nuclear power and will be based primarily on renewables.
The closure of the Spanish nuclear park will begin with the first Almaraz reactor in November 2027 (the second will stop in October 2028). Then Ascó, Cofrentes, Vandellós and Trillo will progressively close, which will do so in May 2035, always according to the plan agreed between the Government and the electricity companies.
After the cessation of activity, at least three years must pass for dismantling to begin. It is at that moment when Enresa takes charge of the facilities to begin the entire process, as has recently happened with Garoña. These works usually last ten years and after another ten years the land should be released. However, that end will now be delayed because a part of the facilities – the one that will be occupied by the warehouse with the high-level waste from each plant – will remain occupied at least until the seventies of this century, according to the plan. waste approved this Wednesday in the Council of Ministers.
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