Introduction

Spain has few energy sources of its own. Nuclear power accounted for 18% of total electricity production in 2008. Spain currently has 9 nuclear reactors. The PSOE (Socialist Party) won the general elections in March 2004. It has made a strong political statement to progressively phase out nuclear power, but so far no calendar or specific strategy has been fixed. The José Cabrera NPP (also called “Zorita”), which is located in the municipality of Almonacid de Zorita, in the province of Guadalajara (Spain), was shut down on 30 April 2006 because of a political decision taken two years ago.
The PSOE won the latest elections in March 2008. The policy of the government regarding nuclear power remained unchanged. The Spanish government announced on 2 July 2009 that it has decided to grant an operating licence to the Garoña nuclear power plant in Northern Spain for a further four years. The plant’s current operating licence expires on 5 July 2009. The decision to allow it to continue producing electricity until 2013 is not consistent with the recommendation of the Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear (the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council)  that the plant could continue operating safely for another 10 years, until 2019. According to its Kyoto targets, Spain is allowed to increase its emissions by 15% above 1990 levels by 2012.  However, it had already increased its emissions by over 40% by 2004. In 2005, national CO2 emissions were 50% above their 1990 level. Furthermore, the nuclear phase-out policy could threaten Spain’s security of electricity supply.

Country Profile

Executive Summary

Spain has few energy sources of its own. Nuclear power accounted for 18% of total electricity production in 2008. Spain currently has 9 nuclear reactors. The PSOE (Socialist Party) won the general elections in March 2004. It has made a strong political statement to progressively phase out nuclear power, but so far no calendar or specific strategy has been fixed. The José Cabrera NPP (also called “Zorita”), which is located in the municipality of Almonacid de Zorita, in the province of Guadalajara (Spain), was shut down on 30 April 2006 because of a political decision taken two years ago.
The PSOE won the latest elections in March 2008. The policy of the government regarding nuclear power remained unchanged. The Spanish government announced on 2 July 2009 that it has decided to grant an operating licence to the Garoña nuclear power plant in Northern Spain for a further four years. The plant’s current operating licence expires on 5 July 2009. The decision to allow it to continue producing electricity until 2013 is not consistent with the recommendation of the Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear (the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council)  that the plant could continue operating safely for another 10 years, until 2019. According to its Kyoto targets, Spain is allowed to increase its emissions by 15% above 1990 levels by 2012.  However, it had already increased its emissions by over 40% by 2004. In 2005, national CO2 emissions were 50% above their 1990 level. Furthermore, the nuclear phase-out policy could threaten Spain’s security of electricity supply.

Security of supply

Spain has few energy sources of its own. The main ones are coal and hydro. In 2005, Spain’s total amount of proven oil reserves was only 158 million barrels and it only had 90 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Coal is Spain’s most important energy source, with reserves of 728 million short tons, but coal consumption has traditionally remained relatively low. Spain’s coal industry has struggled to remain profitable. Spain has the fifth-largest electricity market in the EU. At present, the main energy source for producing electricity is conventional thermal power (about 50%), followed by hydro-electricity (about 30%). Nuclear power accounted for 18% of total electricity production in 2008. Spain currently has 8 nuclear reactors, which generate a quarter of its electricity.

In January 2004, Spain and Portugal signed an agreement creating a pan-Iberian electricity market (Mibel). The new market allows generators in both countries to sell each other electricity. It is planned that the Compania Operadora del Mercado Espanol de Electricidad (OMEL), which is the company in charge of managing the liberalised electricity market, and Portugal’s equivalent, OMIP, will merge in April 2006. This will create a single operator for the new integrated electricity market.

Spain has exceeded its Kyoto Protocol target of 15% over 1990 levels and has the worst record of any EU member state.

Nuclear Policy

The main legislation regarding nuclear energy was passed in April 1969. It reasserts Spain’s commitment to the peaceful use of nuclear power and stresses the need for safety and radiological protection. What is noticeable about Spain’s nuclear industry is its power plant uprate programme. It has launched a programme to add 810 MWe (11%) to its nuclear capacity by increasing output at its nine reactors by up to 13%. For example, the capacity of the Almarez NPP will be increased by more than 5% at a cost of $50 million. The Cofrentes NPP was upgraded by 2% in 1988 and by a further 2.2% in 1998, 5.6% in 2002 and 1.9% in 2003.

As part of its electoral programme for the general elections of 2004, the Socialist Party announced its intention to progressively shut down Spain’s NPPs and gradually replace them with other renewable energy sources such as wind. The PSOE (Socialist Party) won the general elections of March 2004. The PSOE has made a strong political statement about nuclear energy, promoting its progressive phase-out. So far, however, no calendar or specific strategy has been fixed.

Although the proposal has been mentioned on several occasions, the Government has, so far, made no progress with its nuclear phase-out policy. The José Cabrera NPP (also called “Zorita”), which is located in the municipality of Almonacid de Zorita, in the province of Guadalajara (Spain), was shut down on 30 April 2006 because of a political decision taken two years ago. A debate was held in autumn 2006 on the future of the nuclear energy programme.

The PSOE won the latest elections in March 2008. The policy of the government regarding nuclear power remained unchanged. The Spanish government announced on 2 July 2009 that it has decided to grant an operating licence to the Garoña nuclear power plant in Northern Spain for a further four years. The plant’s current operating licence expires on 5 July 2009. The decision to allow it to continue producing electricity until 2013 is not consistent with the recommendation of the Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear (the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council)  that the plant could continue operating safely for another 10 years, until 2019.

Safety and waste management

Construction of the first three NPPs in Spain started in 1964. The first built was the Jose Cabrera (Zorita NPP), a small pressurised water reactor. A medium-sized boiling water reactor, Santa Maria de Garona, was built two years later, followed by Vandellos-1, a medium sized gas-cooled reactor similar to the Uk’s Magnox units.

In the 1970s, 6 pressurised water reactors were built. Spain’s NPPs are, therefore, of Western design and comply with Western safety standards. In addition, they are being upgraded.

In 1980, the Consejo de Securidad Nuclear (CSN- Nuclear Security Council) was set up to take over responsibility for both nuclear safety and radiological protection matters. Licensing is granted subject to a 1964 law and to regulations that were passed in 1999 by the Economy Ministry acting on advice from the CSN and the Ministry of Environment. Civil liability for nuclear damage is covered under international conventions to which Spain is a party - the IAEA Vienna Convention and the OECD, Paris and Brussels Conventions. Operators need to cover liability costs of €150 million.

The Spanish radioactive waste management agency ENRESA (Empresa Nacional de Residuos Radiactivos) was set up in 1984 to take over the management of the low and intermediate-level radioactive waste that is produced in Spain, as well as the handling of spent fuel and the dismantling of NPPs. Periodically, ENRESA draws up a General Radioactive Waste Plan (GRWP), which has to be approved by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce. The plan contains an assessment of thecosts of managing radioactive waste, spent fuel and decommissioning and of the amounts that need to be collected each year and transferred to the financial fund that was set up to cover these costs in the future. Waste management and decommissioning is funded by a levy of about 1% on all electricity consumed.

The El Cabril low and medium-level waste storage centre is located in the Northwest part of the province of Cordoba, in the foothills of the Sierra Albarrana and within the municipality of Hornachuelos. It started operating in 1992 and its installations have been designed and built using the most advanced storage technologies available. Integration with the environment has always been considered of the utmost importance. At the moment, all the high-level waste is stored in spent fuel pools at the NPPs. The Trillo NPP (Guadalajara) also runs a dry repository facility.

ENRESA is planning to build, with the agreement of all the politician groups, a temporally centralised repository for management of all high-level waste. In June 2006, Spain's nuclear regulator, the Nuclear Safety Council, approved ENRESA's generic design of the facility. On 29 December 2009, the Spanish government called for municipalities to volunteer to host the temporary storage facility. The localities interested in hosting it have until 29 January 2010 to nominate themselves. The facility is designed to hold, for up to 100 years, an estimated 6,700 metric tons of spent fuel and 2,600 cubic meters of intermediate-level waste.

According to the General Radioactive Waste Plan (updated in 2004), the cost of managing spent fuel and radioactive waste and of dismantling Spain’s current NPPs is estimated at 12,000 million Euros. In June 2003, ENRESA completed the dismantling and decommissioning of the reactor at the Vandellós I NPP (a 500 MWe GCR reactor).

Climate Change

In September 2004, the Government approved the National Emission Rights Assignment Plan, which fixed as one of its objectives a decrease of 24% in CO2 emissions during the period 2005-2007, with respect to 1990 levels. The Government intends to increase the use of renewable energy sources and to improve energy efficiency in order to meet the Kyoto targets. In this respect, Spain is allowed to increase its emissions by 15% above 1990 levels during the period 2008-2012. However, they had already increased their emissions by over 40% by 2004. National CO2 emissions reached 50% above their 1990 level in 2005. The summer's severe drought resulted in a lack of water that cut hydro-electric generation by 40%, forcing a 30% rise in production by fossil fuel power stations. Spain has exceeded its Kyoto Protocol target of 15% over 1990 levels and has the worst record of any EU Member State. The recently published International Energy Agency’s (IEA) report , “Energy Policies of IEA Countries – Spain 2009 Review”, says that Spain must keep all the energy options open including nuclear power and renewables to achieve its CO2 emissions target and to make its power sector less carbon-intensive .

Public opinion

In June 2008, the Spanish Nuclear Forum carried out a survey to analyse whether the latest incidents at the Ascó NPP had modified public opinion regarding nuclear energy. What we can infer from the results is that the incidents have had no significant negative impact. The survey on public opinion, the fourth of its kind carried out by the Spanish Nuclear Forum, shows that 58% of the population is against nuclear energy, whereas 8% are undecided and 34% are in favour. The current economic crisis has also prompted media and politicians to reconsider the nuclear option and attitudes towards nuclear energy are getting more positive.

1. You can have access to the website of the Nuclear Security Council at: http://www.csn.es
2. You can consult ENRESA website at: http://www.enresa.es/