Electric companies charge extra cost of nuclear shutdown plan from electricity bill

The Ministry of Ecological Transformation opened the process to approve a new Radioactive Waste General Plan and determine how waste will be managed, how nuclear power plants will be dismantled, and how much it will all cost. The government’s draft envisions two options for where nuclear waste will be stored over the next 60 years: a single central cemetery or seven temporary warehouses in each of the centereither way, it will be an intermediate solution until a deep geological repository (AGP) is built to permanently store the waste forever.

The government calculates that the total cost of nuclear waste management and dismantling of power plants will increase by 24,435 million (if a single central nuclear waste cemetery is built) or 26,560 million euros (if seven warehouses are chosen) from 1985 to the end of this century. distributed throughout Spain). This is a Extra costs between 1,400 and 3,500 million compared to estimates in the previous draft It was prepared in 2020 by Enresa, the public company responsible for nuclear waste management.

The big power companies that own the Spanish nuclear power plants refuse to incur higher costs than had so far been projected, and criticize the possibility that the Government will increase the rate paid by the companies to finance the costs of the plant shutdown plan and management. waste. This is reflected in the observations sent to the Ministry of Ecological Transition on the PGRR draft by the convening Nuclear Energy Committee (CEN). Endesa, Iberdrola, naturalness and EDP He said that, as owners of reactors located in Spain, they submitted a joint document on the allegations reached by EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA and this media, a newspaper that is part of the Prensa Ibérica group.

Electrical system costs

What worries power companies is that estimates of the amount to be paid by 2100 for the management of nuclear waste are -17,100 million if a central temporary warehouse is built, or 19,200 million if seven temporary silos are chosen. unexpected cost overrun (between 500 and 2,000 million at fixed prices compared to the previous draft), which will lead to an increase in the rates factories pay to finance waste management.

Endesa, Iberdrola, Naturgy and EDP attribute these cost overruns to the enormous delay accumulated by the old project to build a central temporary warehouse (ATC) at Villar de Cañas in Cuenca due to a lack of political and institutional consensus, and their refusal to undertake them for this. Reason. The proposal of the major electricity companies included in the claim report is to consider these additional amounts as the cost of the electrical system and charging them at the electricity fee paid by all consumers.

“Given the nature of the causes causing the ATC delay, additional costs should be considered for the temporary management of spent fuel pursuant to Law 54/97. [la Ley del Sector Eléctrico]“rather than attributing the costs of the electricity system to the patrimonial benefit taxing the activities of nuclear power plants,” points out the electricity companies in the letter sent to the Ministry of Ecological Transformation on June 8th. “Otherwise, an additional increase in the rate financed by the nuclear power plants in operation, endanger the future economic viability of plants”.

abide by the agreement

Government agreed with major electricity companies in 2019 phased closure of all nuclear power plants To apply a maximum increase of 20% in the rate paid by companies based on the electricity produced and the cost of dismantling the power plants to finance waste management between 2027 and 2035. In 2020, the Government increased these rates by 19.2%, currently set at €7.98 per megawatt hour (MWh) produced.

According to industry sources, Expected 500 million extra cost if ATC is built means raising the rate from 7.98 euros to 8.5 euros per MWh and 2,000 million more to have seven decentralized temporary warehouses (ATDs), forcing it to place at 9.5 euros. Therefore, companies feel that by any option they would violate the Government’s commitment not to exceed the 20 percent mark in the closing protocol.

Enresa, the publicly traded company responsible for radioactive waste management, warns that current legislation authorizes the Government to review the rate paid by facilities if a significant increase in dismantling and waste management costs is expected. Electricity Sector Law, Government check nuclear rate By royal decree based on an economic-financial report updating the expected costs to meet the work of the General Radioactive Waste Plan. “This authority of the government cannot be limited by the protocol on the orderly shutdown of nuclear power plants signed in 2019 by Enresa and the companies that own the plants,” Enresa sources said.

advance the AGP

Big power companies refuse two temporary storage options It is proposed by the government (a single ATC or seven ATDs distributed across the country) and demands a third way: directly mobilize the construction of the last cemetery to hold nuclear waste at each of the power plants for only twenty years and advance the beginning 25 years ahead of schedule by the Executive, thus the Executive It will be operational by 2050 at the latest, not in 2073 as suggested by

Companies choose their own promote the initiation of deep geological repository (AGP) would not mean significant savings for them and would not imply that the rates they would pay would be somewhere between 8.5 and 9.5 euros per MWh, in line with the impact of the alternatives proposed by the Ministry.

Source: Informacion

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