Nuclear companies oppose Government plan and advocate delaying plant closures

The latest version of the new PGRR, released by the Council of Ministers last month, confirms the gradual closure of all businesses. nuclear power plants Spanish until complete blackout between 2027 and 2035; to think construction of seven radioactive waste repositories In Spain, one of each plant will be stored temporarily for fifty years; and calculates a total bill of over €3.7 billion in extra costs compared to previous versions of the programme.

And companies in the nuclear sector openly complain against all these matters. The Nuclear Forum publicly advocates keeping nuclear power plants running and postponing planned closures, despite the timetable being agreed by major power companies and the Government in 2019; denies that the billions of dollars of extra costs are financed by the rate that power companies pay for the plants to generate electricity; and complains that the plan for seven nuclear cemeteries would prevent nuclear power plant land from being reused for other industrial purposes after being closed for half a century.

“Solutions adopted in the New Plan they think A much higher cost than originally planned due to lack of consensus among the different institutions involved and therefore in no case should such extra costs be attributed to nuclear power plants,” Foro Nuclear criticizes in a statement. Employers no longer need a proposal on how to finance this extra cost, but electricity companies will not be able to recognize these additional amounts as the cost of the electricity system during the processing of the new PGRR. He argued that it was accepted and therefore billed for electricity at the rate paid by all users and consumers.

In recent years, the Government has kept two alternatives alive On what to do with the highly radioactive waste from the facilities over the next half century: transport and store it all in a central temporary repository (ATC) for several decades (which was the option that was pursued for years with the idea of ​​placing it in Villar de Cañas in Cuenca (now rejected outright) ) or building seven decentralized temporary warehouses (ATD) in the country.

The lack of political and social consensus and the fact that no autonomous community ultimately wanted to host a large national nuclear cemetery pushed the Government to take this decision. seven warehouse options. If the construction of a single central warehouse is chosen, it will require much larger investments, with an extra cost of approximately 3 billion 720 million euros compared to the total expenditure estimates that the Executive managed last year.

According to the newly updated total investment table of the seventh PGRR, currently approved, the cost of the entire radioactive waste management program (from 1985 to 2100) together with the construction of seven repositories will amount to approximately 28 billion 156 million euros. The last provisional version of the plan, made public last year, projected that the investments of the entire plan would be 24,436 million (3,720 million less) if only one ATC was built, and 26,560 million with the option of seven ATDs (only 1,595 million difference). over a year due to the impact of inflation and some upwardly revised costs). The new road map predicts that the cost to be paid by the end of this century will reach approximately 20 billion 220 million euros.

rate increase

These investments are made with the principle of ‘polluter pays’. Fees paid by nuclear power plants must be covered To finance the management of radioactive waste and the dismantling of facilities. Given that a strong extra cost is considered, the Government will soon approve a million-dollar increase in this non-tax aid paid by the electricity companies Endesa, Iberdrola, Naturgy and EDP, which own the plants.

Nuclear power plants currently pay 7.98 euros in non-tax capital assistance to the National Radioactive Waste Company (Enresa) for every megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity they produce. In total, depending on the final volume of electricity per year, the electricity companies that own the nuclear power plants (mostly Endesa and Iberdrola and also Naturgy and EDP with the remaining participations) An average of around 450 million euros is paid annually to the fund from which the radioactive waste plan is financed.There are currently about 7.5 billion accumulated.

According to various sources in the nuclear industry, the additional costs expected in the future PGRR lead to a 25% increase in this rate to around 10 euros per MWh. announced El Periódico de EspañaFrom the group Prensa Ibérica. An increase that would bring payments made by nuclear power plants each year to around 570 million euros, 120 million more than current payments. The Ministry of Ecological Transition, which is responsible for approving this increase in the nuclear rate, does not comment on future increases.

Nuclear employers complain This Plan’s extra costs represent a “significant change” Compared to the conditions agreed upon between the nuclear power plant owners and the publicly traded company Empresa Nacional de Residuos Radioactives (Enresa) regarding the closure plan. In this protocol, it was decided to increase the rate paid by companies for the electricity they produce by a maximum of 20% (up to 7.98 euros per MWh). Enresa argues that this agreement does not limit the Government’s power to set new increases in the capital benefits paid by factories in the future.

“We must not forget that nuclear power plants are subject to nuclear energy. excessive taxation“In some cases, it is unnecessary, as well as discriminatory and non-homogeneous and incomparable with other technologies, which greatly penalizes their operation and management,” Foro Nuclear notes, “so any additional increase in rates undermines their economic sustainability.”

Companies in the nuclear sector have been Profitability problems due to tax burdens and ownership benefits assumed by the facilitiesThe cost of electricity produced per MWh is approximately 25 Euros. Their usual complaints to the administrations include the reduction of tax liabilities and, more recently, the implementation of certain formulas that guarantee a reasonable profitability for the facilities.

delayed closing

Nuclear companies are now emphasizing this Continuing the operation of the Spanish nuclear park and delaying the closure of the facilities “significantly helps finance the plan itself”“The longer nuclear power plants operate, the more financing will be available from the Enresa Fund.” The employers’ association advocates postponing the closures without specifying deadlines for extending the life of the reactors.

From the nuclear sector, extending the two-year operating period of each nuclear power plant,What should be avoided is raising rates, Postponing the country’s total nuclear shutdown until 2037, El Periódico de España reported. The estimates used by nuclear companies take into account the expected payments each year for the power generation of the plants (the longer the plants operate, the more electricity will be produced and the more will be contributed to the fund managed by Enresa); The amount available in the Enresa fund, which has been feeding power plants for years, is currently approximately 7.5 billion euros; and a 1.5% discount on financing needs due to the development of interest rates and inflation and the profitability achieved by investing in this multimillion-dollar fund.

With all these variables The extra cost foreseen in the future general waste plan will be covered if all nuclear power plants are operated for another two years or if, according to industry calculations, the lifespan of some power plants extends beyond this two-year period (the fewer facilities expand their operations, the longer it is necessary to extend them).

In 2019, the Government reached an agreement with major electricity companies to phase out all nuclear power plants between 2027 and 2035.. The protocol signed by Iberdrola, Endesa, Naturgy, EDP and public company Enresa foresees the gradual closure of seven Spanish reactors, with Almaraz I in 2027, Almaraz II in 2028, Ascó I in 2030, Cofrentes’ It states that in will be closed in 2030 and Ascó II will be closed in 2027. in 2032 and Vandellós II and Trillo in 2035. Nuclear companies assume that changing these dates would require agreement on a new protocol to propose a new path toward nuclear disruption and new deadlines.