“It is the only country that has decided to go back with this technology after the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.” The person who launches this lament is Ignacio Araluce, president of Foro Nuclear, the employers' association that represents the owners of nuclear power plants in Spain.
Since the outbreak of the energy crisis, this association has warned on numerous occasions that Spain must rethink the closure calendar agreed between the Government and the owners of the nuclear plants, which begins with the closure of Almaraz I in 2027 and ends with the total closure of the park. nuclear in 2025. Once again, this Tuesday Araluce has once again requested this reconsideration, during the presentation of the report Nuclear results for 2023 and future prospects.
It shows that in the last year, 54.2 terawatt hours were generated, just over 20% of the electrical energy in Spain, which places it as the second source of generation in the country, surpassed only by wind energy and ahead of combined gas cycles. “This places it as the only technology that combines security of supply, with a uranium market that is much more stable than that of fossil fuels, without the need for continuous supply,” said Araluce. The nuclear spokesperson questions the Government's commitment to gas combined cycles as the support energy for the Spanish electrical system. In his opinion, it makes no sense to bet on this polluting technology when the nuclear plants were operating at 90% of their total annual capacity.
Araluce insists on countering criticism regarding the guarantees of keeping the current Spanish nuclear plants in service. “The continuity of the operation of existing reactors is a common practice in a world in which there are 413 reactors in operation and 59 under construction,” he noted while recalling that “there are numerous plans to build new units and the commitment on the part of of 24 countries to triple the installed nuclear power in 2050” and sufficient examples that nuclear power plants can operate for up to 60 years, and not 40 as was said until now, without problems.
Regarding the demand of the nuclear owners in Spain that the remuneration they receive for being open be increased and that their taxes be reduced, the president of Foro Nuclear pointed out that the nuclear companies pay 18 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) of tax for each megawatt they produce, to which is added the so-called Enresa rate designed to cover the dismantling and management of radioactive waste, which is now 7.98 euros, but which the Government wants to increase to 10.36 euros.
“The Enresa fee now amounts to 450 million euros per year. There is enough money to address the planned closure," he pointed out, even if instead of building a single storage facility, temporary storage facilities are built and the single storage facility is delayed until 2070, as the Government has planned after the current impossibility of reaching a consensus to locate the sole storage location for waste.
On the other hand, Araluce defended that nuclear energy is “the only one that complies with the polluter pays” and will continue to be that way, he assures. “The idea that is being tried to convey that the sector does not want to pay is not true. What we are not willing to do is assume extraordinary costs that are not attributable to the operation of the nuclear park, but rather derive from changes in the plan for waste management or from the lack of institutional consensus,” he added.
