Where does the waste produced by Spain’s nuclear facilities go? Almost 40 years ago (in the 1980s, the term didn’t exist yet), images of cargo ships dumping barrels of radioactive waste directly into the sea off the coast of Galicia went viral. Such a performance would be unthinkable today. However, nuclear waste (thousands of years) remains an undesirable neighbor where it is stored, and environmental groups are pressing for it to stop being produced.
According to Law 54/1997 in Spain, Radioactive waste is defined as “any material or waste product that is not intended to be used, that contains or is contaminated with radionuclides at higher concentrations or activity levels than those determined by the Competent Ministry”.
Although electricity generation is the most common use of nuclear technology, There are other fields (medicine, agriculture and food, research, arts or industry) where radioactive waste is produced.. As the Nuclear Forum, which brings together companies in the sector, explained, they are classified into three types: very low activity, low and medium activity and high activity, and irradiated or spent fuel.
Available storage methods
Most of the radioactive waste produced in Spain (close to 95%) is very low, low or medium activity waste and They are permanently stored in the central warehouse of El Cabril in Hornachuelos (Córdoba).It started operating in October 1992. the plants themselves.
The storage system at El Cabril is based primarily on the interposition of engineered barriers (concrete containers and cells) and natural and artificial barriers (cover layers) that safely isolate radioactive waste for the time required for it to be converted into harmless substances. The problem is that this time may take a thousand years.
However, when nuclear power plants operate, they generate waste that requires the presence of temporary facilities there. Intermediate stages where this material loses most of its remaining energy before being deposited in final storage.
“The irradiated fuel elements extracted from the nuclear reactor at each refueling stop are initially, temporarily, stored underwater, in the steel and concrete pool built for this purpose at the nuclear power plant facilities,” explains the Nuclear Forum.
If the storage capacity of the pool is saturated, the irradiated fuel elements are transferred to dry containers (made of concrete and steel) laid on a reinforced concrete slab, called Individualized Temporary Storage (ATI). physically located within the factory site.
In Spain there are ATIs in operation (currently being dismantled) at the Trillo, Ascó, Almaraz, Cofrentes and José Cabrera nuclear power plants. Santa María de Garoña (before dismantling) has completed its own work, but is not yet operational.
A few years later, irradiated fuel elements should be transferred to a Central Temporary Storage (ATC) where they will be held for 60 to 100 years until their final disposal.. In Spain, the creation of this ATC was planned in the town of Villar de Cañas (Cuenca), but at this time the project is paralyzed.
Currently, the ATC in question does not exist and the El Cabril depot is expected to be still operational according to the latest Government plans.
Thanks to these different stages of temporary storage, the transport of irradiated fuel is facilitated by the gradual reduction of its radioactivity level when removed from the reactor. The goal is to reduce the level in question to one thousandth by the time it expires. Final storage at a future Deep Geological Storage facility (AGP), Consisting of engineered structures designed for high-level waste and through wells and tunnels in stable geological formations at great depth. It is not yet available in Spain and is scheduled for 2073.
One nuclear graveyard or several?
The government started the update process. General Radioactive Waste Plan, A long-term roadmap of how to manage waste, how to decommission nuclear power plants, and how much it will cost to do all that.
Right now There are seven nuclear power plants in Spain, and all will begin a shutdown and dismantling process from 2027 to 2035. These are Almaraz I and II, Ascó, Cofrentes, Ascó II, Vandellós II and Trillo.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition document envisions two alternatives for what to do with nuclear waste over the next 60 years: Build a single central nuclear cemetery or set up seven warehouses across Spainone in each of the country’s nuclear power plants.
But whatever temporary option is chosen for the next decades, a Deep Geological Repository (AGP) will be built to become operational later in 2073 and store the waste forever.
The Spanish nuclear sector completely rejects the possibility of distributing radioactive waste at existing nuclear power plants and demands a single central cemetery.. “Having seven warehouses across Spain is nonsense and extremely inefficient,” say major nuclear power plant operators, who criticize the government for keeping both options open and not stating their intentions.
The government is trying to achieve social reconciliation but admits it would cost 2,100m euros to build a network of seven stores.
Greenpeace: “Waste that never goes away”
Greenpeace, on the other hand, considers none of these solutions satisfactory and wants all facilities to be closed as soon as possible, citing Government deadlines as the only way to stop waste generation.
“Nuclear waste remains radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years., during which they must be properly managed. They never disappear due to the many storages or plans we make, and that’s what we can see in Palomares or Huelva in Spain, among other places.”
Until the 1980s, many countries dumped their waste into the sea. This practice was partially banned, thanks to campaigns of condemnation by environmental organizations such as Greenpeace. waste. at sea.
“The solutions currently proposed by the nuclear industry are burial, deep geological storage and surface storage (dry or in ponds). All of them can be considered as workarounds, because even deep geological storage failed to demonstrate that it could contain the waste without radioactive leaching It will be necessary for thousands of years,” he adds.
Greenpeace considers that existing criteria for the management of nuclear waste should, in principle, take into account that they remain where they were created. Therefore, Of all currently available methods, the least dangerous that Greenpeace considers acceptable as a temporary solution for managing nuclear waste from Spanish power plants is the construction of personalized temporary warehouses. (ATI) is dry (without the need to use liquid coolant) and is built next to where nuclear waste is generated: nuclear power plants.
“Moreover, several nuclear power plants have already built it or will build it in the coming years. There is no need or urgency to build a nuclear cemetery,” the entity says.