The government has just approved new General Plan for Radioactive Waste (PGRR)It’s a great road map through this century of when Spain will shut down. nuclear power plantshow they will manage all the radioactive waste they produce, how much it will cost, and how the billion-dollar bill for dismantling the reactors and storing nuclear waste will be paid.
The new PGRR confirms this Phase-out of all Spanish nuclear power plants between 2027 and 2035 until you faint completely; thinking about construction seven radioactive waste repositories In Spain, one of each plant will be stored temporarily for fifty years; and anticipates a future construction deep geological repository (AGP), It has not yet been designed and selected for a site to be put into operation in 2073 to house high-level radioactive waste indefinitely.
The final nuclear graveyard, a kind of large hole where waste will sit in the ground for thousands of years, will not be ready for 50 years, the deadline set by the Government and the National Radioactive Waste Company (Enresa). A conservative deadline based on international experience predicts: The work to prepare it will take decadesbut due to the technical complexity of the project and, above all, the fact that it is very difficult to obtain the necessary social and political support for the selection of the location for the future warehouse, its realization requires the process to be activated already.
In search of social reconciliation
“Social consensus must be sought now,” he says Nuclear Security Council (CSN) President Juan Carlos Lentijo, in his meeting with the press. “We must begin to build the necessary structures of social participation. The participation of all interest groups must be guaranteed in the most sensitive process, such as the selection of the location of the AGP (…) This is not only a technical, but also a social process”, emphasizes the head of the inspector for the safety of nuclear installations in Spain
Until the latest version of the new General Plan on Radioactive Waste, the Ministry of Ecological Transition kept open for several decades two alternatives for the storage of waste: building seven warehouses across Spain or building a single temporary central cemetery (which, together with the Election, has been in place for years Villar de Cañas in Cuenca as a location and has now been completely ignored).
The government claimed that the “lack of social, political and institutional consensus” that emerged during the processing of the new waste plan made the option of a single central repository “unviable”. It is stated from the nuclear sector that this is because no autonomous community supports the possibility of hosting a nuclear cemetery, despite the interest of some municipalities. Spain is currently facing a major debate over where its final nuclear graveyard will be and is preparing to introduce new formulas to achieve the necessary social and political consensus.
The government, Enresa and the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) are aware that achieving this political and social consensus is the biggest challenge to promote the final repository project and ensure that the process is not derailed. The plan to achieve this involves providing maximum stability to the process through a law that provides clear support in the Cortes, articulating a procedure of institutional and social engagement that forms the basis of consensus for a successful site selection for the AGP.
PGRR is thinking eight stages The long process until the final nuclear waste repository becomes operational. From this year to 2025, all available information on the subject will be updated by reviewing the information made so far; Between 2026 and 2028 will be the time to develop the law that regulates the site selection process and determines the actors that should participate in the process; An actual list of possible sites for the future nuclear graveyard will need to be selected between 2029 and 2032; A full analysis of the sites will be carried out between 2033 and 2039 and the final candidate location will be selected; Characterization of the site and verification of its suitability will be carried out between 2040 and 2059; The warehouse construction will be completed between 2060 and 2071 and the process of obtaining an operating permit will come into effect; Following the tests carried out since 2072, the warehouse is aimed to be operational from 2073.
First location map
Between the eighties and nineties of the last century, Enresa has already carried out preparatory work for the future AGP. The company conducted a preliminary study of areas across Spain with geological characteristics (clay, granite or saline soils) and stability to accommodate the warehouse, as well as general designs of what the facility should look like based on different types of storage. black. In 1996, the site exploration plan was paralyzed due to social noise created by the possible location of the final facility and the preference for the construction of a temporary warehouse. “The good news is that we know there are many places that can host an installation with these features,” emphasizes the CSN president.
Enresa, the public company responsible for managing nuclear waste and dismantling the facilities, argues that the PGRR has erred on the side of caution by including a deadline for the final repository to be ready in 2073. Current international experience shows that the time required to develop the entire process before a geological repository becomes operational is between 40 and 50 years. And although Enresa understood that this period could be shortened, he preferred a longer period.
HE José Luis Navarro, president of EnresaHowever, he has publicly supported the goal of freeing up the eventual nuclear graveyard as soon as possible to allocate the land currently occupied by nuclear power plants to other industrial projects, as requested by the major electric companies that own the reactors.
Electricity companies want the periods to be shortened
Endesa, Iberdrola, Naturgy and EDP, Owners of reactors located in Spain submitted a joint observation document to the draft PGRR; In this document, they requested to directly activate the construction of the final cemetery to advance the containment and commissioning of nuclear waste at each site for only two decades. As this media reported, it will be operational no later than 2050, 25 years ahead of what was planned by the Administration, that is, in 2073.
Some of the Spanish nuclear power plants already have their own personalized temporary storage facilities (ATI) – Zorita, Garoña and Trillo – and the rest are in the tender process and will be put into service between 2025 and 2026 – Almaraz, Vandellós, Ascó and Cofrentes. Endesa, Iberdrola, Naturgy and EDP chose to use these individual warehouses as an interim solution for several decades until all waste is transferred to the AGP, the last major cemetery, in 2050.
The proposal from the major electric companies is to use each facility’s ATI to leave the waste there for twenty years, but without work to convert it into more complete repositories and with complementary facilities to house the waste for several years. Fifty years as envisioned by PGRR to convert them into decentralized temporary repositories (ATD). The companies’ intention is to develop the final warehouse to free up land where temporary silos will be located so they can be used for other industrial uses beforehand. The government has shown that it is open to bringing forward the commissioning of the final warehouse and accelerating delivery dates.
“We can shorten the deadlines and get the AGP as soon as possible,” he said a few months ago. Sara Aagesen, Minister of State for Energy. “Depending on the speed of the early stages of AGP development, deadlines and deadlines may be shortened,” he emphasized. Enresa believes that the information available from other countries more advanced in AGP projects (Finland could put it into operation as early as 2025, France and Sweden are already working on construction permits, Germany is completing site selection…) will allow us to shorten the 50-year duration of the entire process estimated so far. give.