The government has just approved a new General Plan for Radioactive Waste (PGRR). It outlines a roadmap for Spain’s century ahead, detailing how the country will shut down its nuclear power plants, what will be done with the radioactive waste they generate, the costs involved, and how the billions required to dismantle reactors and manage waste will be covered.
The newly endorsed PGRR confirms the phase-out timeline, with all Spanish nuclear plants to be retired between 2027 and 2035. It also proposes the construction of seven separate radioactive waste repositories across the country. Each plant would store waste temporarily for fifty years, while plans are laid for a future deep geological repository (AGP). That ultimate facility has yet to be designed, a site chosen, and a permanent system established to house high-level waste—targeted for operation in 2073.
The final nuclear graveyard, a large subterranean space for thousands of years of waste isolation, is not expected to be ready for half a century, a conservative deadline set by the Government and Enresa, the national radioactive waste company. International experience suggests that preparing such a facility will take decades. Yet the technical challenges, plus the difficulty of securing social and political backing for site selection, make early progress essential.
In search of social reconciliation
“Social consensus must be sought now,” says Juan Carlos Lentijo, president of the Nuclear Security Council (CSN), in a press briefing. “We must begin to build the structures for social participation and guarantee the involvement of all stakeholders in the sensitive process of selecting the AGP location. This is not only a technical task, but a social one,” notes the head of Spain’s nuclear safety oversight. [citation: CSN]
Until the latest PGRR draft, the Ministry for Ecological Transition kept two options open: seven dispersed storage sites or a single central repository. The latter, associated with a site at Villar de Cañas in Cuenca, has fallen out of favor in the current process. The government has said a lack of social, political, and institutional consensus makes a single central repository unviable [citation: Ministry], with some municipalities showing interest while autonomous communities largely oppose hosting a national cemetery. Spain faces a heated national debate over the final repository’s location and is preparing new ways to achieve broad social and political consensus.
All parties involved—the government, Enresa, and the CSN—recognize that consensus is the biggest hurdle to advancing the final repository project. The plan is to create a stable, legally supported framework in Parliament that clearly defines the engagement process and fosters institutional and community participation as the bedrock for a successful AGP site selection. [citation: Government]
PGRR outlines eight stages in the long arc to the final waste facility becoming operational. From this year through 2025, information will be refreshed and expanded. Between 2026 and 2028, legislation will be developed to regulate site selection and identify participating actors. A list of potential sites should be formed between 2029 and 2032, followed by a thorough site analysis from 2033 to 2039. The final candidate will be chosen, with characterization and suitability verification from 2040 to 2059. Construction is planned for 2060 to 2071, with the operating permit process starting and, after testing since 2072, operation slated for 2073. [citation: Timeline]
Government bows to pressure from Endesa and Iberdrola and extends the ‘commissioning’ process for its nuclear power plants
First location map
During the 1980s and 1990s, Enresa conducted preliminary work across Spain to identify geological settings—clay, granite, or saline soils—that could host the final facility, along with general design concepts for a possible warehouse. In 1996, site exploration slowed due to public outcry over the potential location and a preference for a temporary storage solution. The CSN president notes that there are many sites capable of hosting such an installation. [citation: CSN]
Enresa, the public company responsible for nuclear waste management and decommissioning, argues that the PGRR errs on the side of caution by setting a final repository deadline of 2073. International experience indicates the full process commonly spans roughly 40 to 50 years, and Enresa acknowledges the possibility of shortening that period while preferring a longer horizon.
José Luis Navarro, president of Enresa, has publicly supported freeing up land currently occupied by nuclear plants for other industrial uses, as requested by major reactor owners. [citation: Enresa]
Electricity companies want the periods to be shortened
Endesa, Iberdrola, Naturgy and EDP—owners of reactors in Spain—submitted a joint note with a request to accelerate the final cemetery project and advance waste containment at each site, aiming for operation no later than 2050, about 25 years earlier than the administration’s 2073 target. [citation: Companies]
Several plants already have their own temporary storage facilities (ATI) at Zorita, Garoña, and Trillo, while others are in tender and due to be commissioned between 2025 and 2026 at Almaraz, Vandellós, Ascó, and Cofrentes. The major owners intend to use these interim silos for several decades until waste can be moved to the AGP, with a long-term plan for a centralized final repository by 2050. The government has signaled openness to accelerating the commissioning timeline.
“We can shorten the deadlines and get the AGP up as soon as possible,” stated Sara Aagesen, Minister of State for Energy. “If the early stages progress quickly, deadlines may be shortened.” Enresa also points to international examples from countries with advanced AGP projects that could inform a faster timeline, though each case carries its own complexities. [citation: Energy Ministry]