Spain opts for Open Air Nuclear Dump for Now
Date: 01-Feb-07
Country: SPAIN
The government's search for a site for a centralised store for spent fuel and other high-level radioactive waste, has sparked interest from more than 100 towns eager for jobs and investment, he said.
He declined to name any.
The mayor of at least one has had to withdraw because of popular protests after it emerged he had considered bidding, local media reports said.
The government has approved the construction of a dry, above ground store to take waste from the small nuclear plant of Jose Cabrera, which closed last year.
"The ATC (centralised store) will not be ready until 2010 or 2011 and we can't start dismantling Jose Cabrera in 2009 unless we have a store in place," the ministry said.
The plan is to stash waste from Cabrera, which is now cooling in the plant's own pools of water, in special containers which will rest on a concrete slab.
"The containers cost 3 million euros (US$4 million) each, but can then be transferred to the centralised store," the spokesman said.
The state-owned nuclear waste company Enresa advertised in July for towns to host this store, offering jobs and investment as incentives.
The ministry says it now has to finalise details of its proposal and will start taking offers in a few months' time.
The 150 MW Cabrera plant started up in 1969 and is the first of Spain's nine reactors to have closed. No new plants have been built since the 1980s when the then Socialist government called a halt to the country's nuclear programme.
Recently some in the Socialist government have called for nuclear power to be reconsidered, but Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero says he is sticking to his election pledge to reduce the share of nuclear power in Spain's energy mix.