Spain will begin shutting down nuclear power plants in 2027

Spain has approved a programme formalising the timetable for closing all its nuclear power plants. The remaining five plants, with seven reactors, are to be shut down by 2035, starting with Almaraz 1 in November 2027.

According to Balkan Green Energy News, Spain approved its seventh General Radioactive Waste Plan (PGRR) this week. While this makes nuclear waste management more difficult, the country is still planning a complete phase-out of nuclear power. A ministerial panel cancelled the project for a centralised nuclear waste repository, despite the government having already spent 90 million euros on it. This is highly likely to increase the costs of the planned phase-out of nuclear power.

The document, proposed by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, was supposed to have been adopted eight years ago. The previous plan, from 2006, envisaged closing the nuclear power plants between 2001 and 2027. Extending the reactors’ operating lives is probably no longer worthwhile, partly because nuclear waste management is now set to become significantly more expensive. Instead of a centralised repository, the plan is to consider establishing seven such facilities at existing power plant sites. A deep geological repository for all nuclear waste is to be established within 50 years.

20% of electricity consumption

The five existing nuclear power plants currently meet one-fifth of Spain’s electricity demand. The government reached a preliminary agreement with the plant operators on shutting them down back in 2019. Iberdrola, Endesa and Naturgy operate nuclear facilities with a total net installed capacity of 7.1 GW.

At the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, 25 countries, most of them European, signed the Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy by 2050. Armenia, Croatia and Jamaica joined after it was announced. 120 companies in the energy sector expressed their support for achieving the target.

The government in Madrid is also planning a coal phase-out, as early as 2025. To ensure that retiring sources are replaced, it plans to provide significant administrative and financial support for the construction of renewable energy sources.