The government remains determined not to extend the life of nuclear power plants any longer. In 2019, major power companies agreed with Enresa, the publicly traded company responsible for radioactive waste, on a program to phase out all reactors that will begin in 2027 and end in a total nuclear shutdown in 2035. And this, manager Pedro Sanchez defends without problems… and the potential new government that will emerge from the general elections at the end of the year will have to decide what state it will be in.
Despite political opposition pressure And some industrial employersYes, the current government advocates keeping the agreed closing dates unchanged. In the next revision of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC), the roadmap that determines which technologies will produce electricity by 2030, It is unlikely to include a change in the closing schedule. towards nuclear disruption.
“The government is not considering a change in the calendar or extending the life of nuclear power plants. “The Government will continue the agreement between the owner companies and Enresa, and they will see it this way in the next update of the PNIEC,” Sara Aagesen, Minister of State for Energy, said at the Congress of Deputies a few weeks ago. . The new roadmap for 2030, prepared by the executive, will include more ambitious targets in renewable energy, green hydrogen, biomethane, storage… but not nuclear.
shake the pressure
The government emphasizes that neither company has formally communicated its willingness to change the operating conditions of the facilities and has not expressed their interest in increasing their nuclear investments and that postponing the shutdown is not a solution to addressing energy emergencies. crisis, because the first shutdown will not happen for another four years.
During the energy crisis, PP, Vox and Ciudadanos put pressure To the Manager who wants to review the closing schedule to extend the deadlines. The electricity companies that own the plants (Endesa, Iberdrola, Naturgy and EDP) are currently operating with set closing dates as the only official scenario, but voices in the energy sector are also starting to join in, at least offering bargains with the Executive. Reviewing dates if deemed necessary to achieve the goals of decarbonising the Spanish economy.
While the nuclear industry points out that there is no technical impossibility for the power plants to operate outside the planned dates, it warns that they can only work if their economic viability is guaranteed. That is, utilities are not averse to continuing to operate their reactors if they are guaranteed profitability with some kind of flat fee or flat income for the electricity they produce, as well as with less taxes than they currently incur.
Deadline to decide
Companies in the nuclear industry also warn that the timeframe to decide whether to review the power plant closure schedule is not unlimited and that the decision cannot be delayed if the initial closures are delayed. And a decision needs to be made this year or next year at the latest to delay the first closures, especially Almaraz I in 2027. Nuclear ones put it like this tasks to the next government to exit the elections originally scheduled for next December.
Spain has seven active reactors spread across five nuclear power plants, which consistently concentrate around 20% of the country’s entire electricity production each year. Nuclear advocates highlight the reliability offered by power plants to provide electricity permanently without CO2 emissions compared to intermittent renewable energy production.
Electricity companies, Enresa, and the Nuclear Safety Council, the regulator that oversees the safety of power plants in the country, are working according to the closing schedule agreed with the Government as a roadmap for operation and planning deadlines. The gradual and gradual shutdown of seven Spanish reactors agreed with the major power companies in 2019, Almaraz I in 2027, Almaraz II in 2028, Ascó I in 2030, Cofrentes in 2030, Ascó II It predicts closure of Vandellós II in 2032 and Vandellós II in 2035. and also Trillo in 2035.
From the Employers Nuclear Forum, the companies that own the plants, as well as the regulator CSN, which oversees the safety of the power plants in the country, the previous process of planning the necessary investments and resources, and the study and preparation process for the extension of the operating permit for each nuclear power plant require a total of about three years. . Therefore, avoiding the first reactor shutdown planned for 2027 requires a decision no later than next year.