The board of Spain’s Centrales Nucleares Almaraz-Trillo (CNAT) has requested a three-year extension to the operating licence for units I&II of the NPP until June 2030 from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition & Demographic Challenge (Miteco).
The two pressurised water reactors (PWRs) which began operation in 1981 and 1983 with rated capacities of 1,011 MWe and 1,006 MWe, are currently due to close in 2027 as part of Spain’s 2019 nuclear phase-out policy. They are jointly owned by Iberdrola (53%), Endesa (36%) and Naturgy (11%). Iberdrola and Endesa are controlled by Italian energy company Enel.
Spain currently has seven operating reactors at five NPPs. These include two pressurised water reactors (PWRs) at Almarez NPP (Extremadura), two PWRs at Ascó NPP (Tarragona), one boiling water reactor at Cofrentes NPP (Valencia), one PWR at Vandellós NPP (Tarragona) and one PWR at Trillo NPP (Guadalajara). Together they generate around 20% of Spain’s electricity. The closure will begin with Almaraz 1 in November 2027 followed by unit II in October 2028. Then Ascó, Cofrentes, Vandellós and Trillo will close in sequence by 2035.
However, in February the Plenary Session of Spain’s Congress approved a non-law proposal calling for the government to implement a series of measures that would effectively reverse the nuclear phase out policy. The proposal, which is not legally binding, was presented by the conservative People’s Party and passed with 171 votes in favour, 164 against and 14 abstentions. This was followed by a manifesto signed by 32 nuclear companies urging the long-term operation of Spain’s NPPs and renegotiation of the 2019 nuclear phase-out agreement.
In its submission to Miteco, CNAT said it “wishes to reiterate its commitment to continue operating the Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant safely, reliably, and efficiently, maintaining the high standards that place it among the best nuclear power plants in the world”.
Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant currently supplies more than 7% of the electricity consumed in Spain. CNAT said Almaraz meets all the requirements of the Periodic Safety Review approved by the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) in 2020 and valid until 2030. It added that with “an annual investment of €50m ($58m) for the improvement, upgrading, and modernisation of its equipment, the Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant is in optimal technical condition to continue operating”.
CNAT said Almaraz is one of the largest industries in Extremadura, generating jobs of high-skilled and long-term work, as well as having a tractor effect on other industries and is “rated at the level 1 of excellence of the nuclear industry, according to the World Association of Nuclear Power Plants (WANO)” and “has a rigorous control system based on external evaluations and audits”.
