The government is starting the process to update its very long-term roadmap on what to do with radioactive waste and how much it will cost to manage it. The Ministry of Ecological Transition has initiated the procedure for informing the public of the proposal for the new project. Radioactive Waste General Plan (PGRR). The current plan was drawn up in 2006 and is completely obsolete and now the Government has to launch a new program with provisions on how to manage nuclear waste, how to dismantle nuclear power plants and how to finance all these actions.
Recommendation of the Ministry of Ecological Transition two alternatives for what to do with nuclear waste For the next 60 years, the country’s First to pursue a plan to build a single temporary central nuclear cemetery, which should be ready by 2030. Another is to install seven temporary decentralized warehouses at each of the nuclear power plants. And whatever temporary option is chosen for the next decades, deep geological repository (DGA) so it will be operational in 2073 and store waste forever.
The government estimates that Spain will spend by 2100, between the amount currently spent on the management of nuclear waste, the cost of dismantling all nuclear power plants, and the cost of long-term management of all waste. Between 24,435 million (if one central cemetery is built) to 26,560 million euros (if you choose seven warehouses) scattered all over Spain).
Of this estimated amount, 7,326 million euros will have been spent by the end of 2022, and 17,109 and 19,234 million will still be spent. a single cemetery or several warehouses. About 4,500 million of the estimated costs for the coming decades correspond to the cost of dismantling nuclear power plants, while 8,350 and 10,285 million correspond to the management of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste (from nuclear power plants alone).
The government agreed on a program with the electricity companies. Gradual closure of all Spanish factories between 2027 and 2035 which would lead to a complete nuclear power outage in the country. The government’s plans are to phase out seven currently operational Spanish reactors, which were agreed in 2019 with Iberdrola, Endesa and Naturgy, envisioning the shutdown of Almaraz I in 2027, Almaraz II in 2028, and Ascó I in 2030. and its gradual closure. Cofrentes in 2030, Ascó II in 2032, Vandellós II in 2035 and again Trillo in 2035.
A single cemetery or seven warehouses
The government is considering both alternatives, although it would cost 2,100m euros to build a network of seven warehouses at seven sites. “The final decision necessarily requires a high degree of consensus social, political and institutional,” they point out from the Ministry, led by Vice President Teresa Ribera.
Enresa, The publicly traded company responsible for radioactive waste management has already prepared an initial proposal to approve a new PGRR in 2020. At the time, the company opted to build a single central warehouse, which should be operational by 2028 (an already unattainable deadline), although it left the door open for building several warehouses in different locations. His estimate at the time was that the cost of waste management would be €23,044 million over the century.
The Government of Pedro Sánchez, who recently arrived in Moncloa, crippled the project to build a central nuclear warehouse. Villar de Canas in Cuenca, and he thinks the continuation is denied. If the last option chosen was to build a single warehouse for all the factories’ waste, the Manager would have to find another alternative location.
The manager resigned to continue with the Villar de Cañas option due to technical issues and large additional costs This will require tackling these, especially because of doubts about the quality of the land that Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) technicians and independent studies have already warned about.
The construction of a temporary storage facility for nuclear waste is already far behind schedule. The original plan was considered Get ready by the end of 2018. But more than a decade after the Council of Ministers commissioned the municipality of Villar de Cañas to set up the nuclear cemetery, there is still no warehouse.