COUNTRY PAVILLIONS | WNE2025 Spain: Fighting the nuclear phase out
Spain’s seven operating reactors, which generate 20% of the country’s electricity, are all scheduled to shut down by 2035
Spain operates six pressurised water reactors (PWRs) at four sites – Almaraz 1&2, Ascó 1&2, Trillo 1 and Vandellós 2 – as well as a 1064 MWe boiling water reactor (BWR) at Cofrentes. All seven units, which generate 26% of Spain’s carbon-free electricity, are due to close by 2035 according to the country’s 2019 nuclear phase-out policy. Almaraz 1, located in western Spain’s Extremadura region, is scheduled to permanently shut down in November 2027, followed by Almaraz 2 in October 2028. Ascó 1 is due to cease generating in October 2030), followed by Cofrentes (November 2030), Ascó 1 (September 2032), Vandellós 2 (February 2035) and Trillo (May 2035). In February this year, 32 companies involved in Spain’s
nuclear sector signed a manifesto urging the government to review its nuclear phase-out programme. It noted that the plan was agreed “under an industrial, geopolitical, social and economic context that is vastly different from today’s reality”. According to Foro Nuclear, which represents the Spanish
nuclear industry, electricity in Spain would be 23-35% more expensive for consumers without nuclear power. Earlier in February, Spain’s Congress narrowly approved a non-binding proposal calling for the government to implement measures that would effectively reverse this policy. However, it remains to be seen what impact this will have. Spain has already permanently closed three reactors:
Vandellos 1, a 480 MWe French-designed gas-graphite reactor in 1990; Jose Cabrera (Zorita), a 142 MWe PWR in 2006; and most recently Santa Maria de Garoña, a 446 MWe BWR in 2012. Enresa, the Spanish state-owned company tasked with
nuclear decommissioning and radioactive waste management, completed phase 2 dismantling at Vandellos 1 in 2003. The final stage, which involves removal of the concrete pressure vessel and all the internal structures, is planned for around 2030. Restoration of the José Cabrera plant site in Guadalajara has
already been completed. The decommissioning work – estimated at €160m ($178m) in 2016 – started in 2010 with conventional dismantling, progressing to radiological areas in 2011. The turbine building was the last facility to be demolished at the site in June 2022. Decommissioning of Garoña is due to last until 2033 and is
budgeted at €475m ($533m). Phase 1, which started in 2023 and runs until 2026, involves dismantling work within the turbine building to create a facility for waste treatment, alongside transfer of spent nuclear fuel from pool to dry storage. Phase 2 (2027-2033) covers disassembly of the main components such as the reactor pressure vessel and internals, demolition of buildings, radiological decontamination and site restoration. A bespoke version of Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot designed by Alisys and GD Energy will be used to support radiological characterisation during the decommissioning programme. Although Spain does not currently have any confirmed plans to build new nuclear reactors, the country is active in nuclear fusion research. In January 2025, the SMART (Small Aspect Ratio Tokamak)
experimental fusion device located at the University of Seville generated first plasma. SMART, being developed in collaboration with Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in the US, is the first compact spherical tokamak operating at fusion temperatures with negative triangularity plasmas.
Above: Removal of the reactor pressure vessel at Spain’s Zorita nuclear power plant, where decommissioning is now complete. Credit: Enresa
www.neimagazine.com | WNE Special Edition | 89
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108
