The government finally approved the new law General Radioactive Waste Plan (PGRR)A road map for the coming decades on the closure and dismantling of nuclear power plants, the management of the waste they leave behind, and how much it will all cost. Finally, due to the fact that the plan in force to this day and approved 17 years ago has become obsolete. And finally, because approval came months late due to early elections and the ensuing political stagnation.
The definitive version of the few that the new PGRR has confirms: phased closure of all nuclear power plants Spanish between 2027 and 2035 until you faint completely; thinking about construction Seven radioactive waste repositories in Spain, one of each plant to be stored temporarily for fifty years; and envisions the future construction of a deep geological repository (AGP), which has not yet been designed and located, and will first become operational in 2073 to house highly radioactive waste indefinitely.
For the last few years the Government has kept alive two alternatives for 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 a few decades (which has been done before). This option was pursued for years with the idea of locating it in Villar de Cañas in Cuenca or building seven decentralized temporary warehouses (ATDs) in the country.
The lack of political and social consensus, and the fact that no autonomous community ultimately wants to host a large national nuclear cemetery, has pushed the Government towards the option of seven repositories. 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 is almost 28.156 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 (1,595 million less soon) with the option of seven ATDs. more than a year due to the impact of inflation and some upwardly revised costs).
New roadmap predicts costs still existThe amount to be paid by the end of this century will reach almost 20 billion 220 million euros (In an earlier version, the pending investment was expected to be 19,244 million, almost 1,000 million less, but this was an estimate for a shorter period of one year, so it is not strictly comparable).
A 25 percent increase?
Under the ‘polluter pays’ rule, these investments must be covered by the fees paid by nuclear power plants to finance the management of their radioactive waste and the dismantling of the facilities. Given the strong extra cost, the Government will soon approve a million-dollar increase in this non-tax benefit paid by the power companies that own the plants: Endesa, Iberdrola, Naturgy and EDP.
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 annually, the electricity companies that own the nuclear power plants (mainly Endesa and Iberdrola, and Naturgy and EDP with the remaining subsidiaries) pay an average of around 450 million euros per year into the fund. It currently funds the plan for accumulated radioactive waste of around 7.5 billion.
According to various sources in the nuclear industry, the extra costs expected in the future PGRR lead to a 25% increase in this rate, i.e. up to about 10 euros per MWh, El Periódico de España of the Prensa Ibérica group reports. 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.
Increasing rate forecast
In 2019, the government reached an agreement with major electricity companies to phase out all nuclear power plants between 2027 and 2035. In this protocol, it was decided to increase the price paid by companies for electricity by a maximum of 20%. This led the Executive to increase the currently applicable rate to €7.98 per MWh produced. A fee that was later deemed sufficient to cover the costs of managing nuclear waste and building a central temporary repository.
Enresa, the public company responsible for the management of radioactive waste in Spain, prepared the first draft of a new general plan for radioactive waste in 2020; where only the option of building a single ATC was considered and its financial memory maintains this rate of 7,98 Euros per MWh. The next version of the plan prepared by Enresa and submitted to the public hearing included two alternatives: building a single ATC or building seven warehouses across the country; 9.6 euros per MWh respectively.
In another previous version of the PGRR, which envisaged the construction of only seven warehouses, the required capital benefit was envisaged to be 9.7 euros per MWh. Every year Enresa prepares an update of the financial forecasts linked to the development of long-term waste management and, according to knowledgeable business sources, in its last report last June it raised the required rate forecast to 10.15 euros per MWh. . Nuclear companies predict that the Government will finally make a slight adjustment to this amount (due to lower than anticipated inflation at the time this forecast was made) and approve an increase in payments to around 10 euros per MWh.
Maintain facilities to prevent rates from increasing
From the nuclear sector, it is estimated that extending the operating period of each of the nuclear power plants by two years will serve to prevent the increase in rates and the total nuclear outage in the country will be postponed until 2037. 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 percent discount on the financing need based on the profitability achieved by investing that billion-dollar fund.
With all these variables, the extra cost foreseen in the future general waste plan will be covered if all nuclear power plants operate for another two years or if some plants extend their lives beyond these two years (the fewer plants that extend their lives). According to industry calculations, the longer it will take to extend the operation.
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 close in 2030, Ascó II in 2032, and Vandellós II and Trillo in 2035. Nuclear companies assume that changing these dates would require agreement on a new date. Protocol proposing a new way forward and new deadlines against nuclear disruption.
Reflect the extra cost on the electricity bill
The major electricity companies that own Spanish nuclear power plants have shown their refusal to bear the higher costs of the new PGRR and have criticized the possibility of the Government increasing the rate companies pay to finance the costs of the plant closure plan. and waste management. This is how observations were collected on the draft PGRR sent to the Ministry of Ecological Transition by the Committee on Nuclear Energy (CEN), which groups Endesa, Iberdrola, Naturgy and EDP as owners of the reactors located in Spain. The newspaper reported..
Electric companies attribute these extra costs to the massive delay in the former ATC construction project in Villar de Cañas in Cuenca due to the lack of political and institutional consensus, and therefore refuse to assume them. The suggestion included in the claim reports of major electricity companies is that these additional amounts should be considered as the cost of the electricity system and reflected in the electricity tariff paid by all consumers. The capital benefit paid by nuclear power plants is, in any case, not a tax figure but rather an operating cost of the facilities themselves (bearing the costs of managing the nuclear waste they produce) and is expressed as Enresa.
Companies in the nuclear sector complain that in recent years they have experienced profitability problems due to tax burdens and ownership benefits borne by power plants, which cost around 25 euros per MWh of electricity produced. Their usual claims against administrations include the reduction of tax liabilities and, more recently, the implementation of certain formulas that guarantee reasonable profitability to utilities, such as long-term contracts that establish stable prices with the electricity system. The system pays compensation to power companies if the market price is lower than the agreed price, and nuclear companies refund the excess if the price is above) or through a payment mechanism for capacity, which means compensating power plants for a set fee. always available and ensuring stability in electricity production.