nuclear-news

Spanish taxpayers take over the costs of nuclear wastes

Spanish nuclear power stations have accumulated an estimated 6,700 tonnes of spent fuel in cooling ponds and will run out of room to store it from 2013.

Spanish voters are generally opposed to nuclear power 

Spain names site for delayed nuclear waste dump By Martin Roberts MADRID, Dec 30 (Reuters) – Spain’s incoming centre-right government named a site on Friday for a nuclear waste dump, a decision that had been long delayed by its Socialist predecessors amid protests by residents and regional authorities.

The industry ministry chose Villar de Canas – 135 km (84 miles) southeast of Madrid – for the Temporary Centralised Store (ATC in Spanish) which it said will bring 300 jobs to the town of 400 people.

“The ATC is an indispensable installation for a country with nuclear power stations,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Radioactive waste has been generated for decades and will continue to be for years because Spain is not in a position to do without nuclear power,” it added.

Spanish nuclear power stations have accumulated an estimated 6,700 tonnes of spent fuel in cooling ponds and will run out of room to store it from 2013.

Spanish voters are generally opposed to nuclear power – which provides about 21 percent of the country’s electricity – and no new plants are planned. But all but one of its eight existing reactors have been authorised to run until at least the 2020s.

The ministry said the project would cost 700 million euros ($904.02 million). But environmental group Greenpeace put the price at 2 billion euros, and said it would create new risks by making power stations transport waste across Spain to the site.

“The ATC only benefits nuclear plant owners, who will save on part of (the cost of) nuclear waste management by squandering public money,” Greenpeace spokeswoman Raquel Monton said…..

The ATC is designed to last for several decades. Highly radioactive waste needs to be stored for many thouands of years, and several underground sites around the world are being considered for long-term projects……http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/30/spain-nuclear-idUSL5E7KN2OW20111230

December 31, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, Spain