The government is speeding up the work to pass the new General Radioactive Waste Plan (PGRR) to update the roadmap for waste management and disposal. The Ministry of Ecological Transition has prepared a final version of the plan, with the goal of securing official approval in the coming weeks and laying out how nuclear facilities will be managed, funded, and decommissioned over the next several decades.
The progress of the election campaign has added uncertainty to the timetable for approving the new plan. Teresa Ribera’s department has not confirmed whether the text will be implemented before the 23J general election, although officials expect a government review to occur imminently. The plan is set to be presented to the Council of Ministers after completing a strategic environmental impact assessment of the nuclear waste framework.
Under Pedro Sánchez’s government, the plan envisions seven different warehouses, one at each nuclear power plant site, to store radioactive waste. The intention is to retain waste at each facility after its shutdown, with phased closures planned between 2027 and 2035. The waste would remain on site for decades until a deep geological repository is ready to operate, projected to begin in 2073 and to provide long‑term containment.
Nuclear companies warn Feijóo that longer operation must still ensure profitability
No to Villar de Cañas
After leaving options open for months, the Socialist Administration ultimately ruled out a single centralized nuclear cemetery and instead committed to seven separate storage facilities. The upcoming election season has rekindled the debate, since the Popular Party, led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, not only advocates reviewing the shutdown plan agreed with the electricity sector but also supports the idea of a single repository and the revival of the Villar de Cañas site in Cuenca.
Just a month after Pedro Sánchez arrived in office following the 2018 no‑confidence motion, the administrator halted all activity related to the construction of a central temporary depot in Villar de Cañas and prompted the Security Council to pause work by the Nuclear Safety Council due to concerns about soil quality and local administration objections.
The Popular Party has pressed for restarting the Villar de Cañas project in recent months. In the Congress, it included the plan as part of a broader program to address the energy crisis. The Cuenca mayoral candidate defended the project in the final stretch of the 28M election campaign, which produced a clear result in favor of his slate.
As the general election timetable remained unclear, the PP pushed the proposal in a 2023 policy document that called for immediate measures to unblock the temporary central waste storage facility at Villar de Cañas (Cuenca). It highlighted that the project involved extensive technical effort and estimated remaining work hours to completion, stressing urgency in facing this issue.
“Nuclear companies will not pay the extra 2 billion cost for waste storage”
No consensus among public administrations
The Ministry of Ecological Transition argued that a lack of social, political, and institutional consensus made the option of a single central repository unfeasible, a sentiment that emerged amid the draft General Radioactive Waste Plan. It is recognized that while some municipalities show interest, no autonomous community has agreed to host a national nuclear cemetery on its territory.
The Junta de Castilla-La Mancha, led by Emiliano García‑Page, has for years rejected plans for a Villar de Cañas burial site, despite earlier discussions that selected Cuenca for an interim central depot. The choice of Villar de Cañas to host an ATC was approved in 2011 during the prior government period, with support from the regional administration at the time.
Collision with the energy sector
The plan to establish seven cemeteries is the most costly option for power companies operating the plants. It would entail substantial additional costs and would lock in on-site storage for many years before any broader redevelopment of the plant sites could occur after shutdown and dismantling. The plan is seen as financially burdensome by the industry and is controversial among ratepayers and policymakers alike.
Government opens to moving toward a definitive nuclear graveyard as industry demands
The nuclear industry association, which includes leading players such as Iberdrola, Endesa, Naturgy, and EDP, has warned against bearing the multi‑billion‑euro extra cost required by seven separate storage facilities. The concern centers on the ongoing burden of financing waste management through electricity bills, and the potential impact on consumer rates as the project evolves. The sector notes that delays in the Villar de Cañas process, driven by political disagreement, have inflated the project’s overall cost, and some argue that any additional costs should be considered part of the broader electricity system rather than added directly to specific rates.
Endesa, Iberdrola, Naturgy, and EDP cite the accumulated delays as the primary reason for opposing the seven‑facility approach. Their position is that extraordinary costs should be treated as system costs and allocated through the general electricity tariff that all customers pay, rather than being charged as standalone expenditures tied to a single waste-storage plan.