Nuclear companies appeal the Government's new radioactive waste plan in court

New judicial front in the energy sector. Foro Nuclear, the atomic employer association that brings together Iberdrola, Endesa and Naturgy, has filed a contentious administrative appeal against the VII General Plan for Radioactive Waste (PGRR) and another against the abandonment of the Centralized Temporary Warehouse (ATC). That is, against the new roadmap of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition that involves abandoning the project of a centralized temporary warehouse (ATC) for seven temporary infrastructures, a change to which they attribute the 40% increase in the so-called 'Enresa rate' which the Government unilaterally approved at the end of last year.

This was confirmed by Foro Nuclear this Tuesday through a statement in which they reported that they have also presented allegations to the Royal Decree Project by which the Government intends to increase the “unitary fixed rate through which the service of the National Radioactive Waste Company (Enresa) for waste management, dismantling and decommissioning of Spanish nuclear power plants”. This is the famous 'Enresa rate'.

And the new tax scenario proposed by the Government implies that the large owners of the Spanish nuclear park, among which the aforementioned shortlist of energy companies stands out, would go from paying 7.89 euros for each atomic megawatt to 11.14 euros, which together would mean an extra cost of more than 1,000 million euros compared to what was planned until the definitive closure of the park.

While the Government justified the blow by the increase in inflation in its conversations with the sector, from the business front they criticize both the substance and the forms. On the one hand, they remember that in 2019 they already signed a 20% rate increase and question the Ministry's calculations to sustain a second increase of such magnitude.. In addition, they criticize that Ecological Transition made the decision unilaterally and “by surprise.”

The two appeals, pointed out by Foro Nuclear, have been filed this February 27. The first is against the agreement of the Council of Ministers of December 27, 2023 by which the VII PGRR is approved, in which the change to the seven temporary warehouses appears and the second, “against the agreement by which the necessary instructions for the abandonment of the project to house a Centralized Temporary Warehouse in the municipality of Villar de Cañas (Cuenca) and Enresa is urged to carry out the appropriate actions for the orderly completion of the procedures initiated for its start-up.” .

In its allegations, the nuclear lobby requests “more economic information to justify this increase, as well as the elimination of extra costs derived from the VII General Plan for Radioactive Waste, which are not attributable to nuclear power plants.”. On the other hand, they consider it “appropriate” to exclude from the costs of the fund “the amount of the tax on the storage of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste in centralized facilities, as well as the reallocation to the Enresa Fund of the collection of taxes on production of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste resulting from the generation of nuclear energy and the storage of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste in centralized facilities”.

Already at the beginning of January, Foro Nuclear advanced its rejection of the new PGRR for entailing “a cost much higher than initially anticipated” due to the new solutions adopted and the “lack of consensus between the different institutions involved.”. In a statement published on January 8, the organization denounced that the additional costs “in no case” should be attributed to the Spanish plants, which annually contribute around 450 million euros to the Enresa fund.

Regarding the recent increase in the so-called 'Enresa rate', the president of Naturgy, Francisco Reynés, recalled that the gas company was one of those that signed the nuclear closure protocol in 2019.. It was then that a rate increase of a maximum of 20% was approved.. These amounts, the executive recalled, were calculated based on “a series of costs and a series of years to be recovered by the entity that has to help with the dismantling.”. “Today, we do not see the need for any adjustment, since the rate was adequate a short time ago,” Reynés concluded within the framework of the presentation of the group's annual results this Tuesday.

ATC and AGP

The main problem is that the ATC is replaced by seven temporary warehouses – one for each reactor – to store the spent fuel until the year 2073, when it is expected to be transferred and deposited definitively in a deep geological storage (AGP). .

What this means is that each plant will take charge of its waste as its closure and dismantling schedule is completed, which will begin in 2027 and end in 2035.. These deadlines are maintained, at least for now, since voices have also emerged that advocate extending the useful life of atomic energy. The blackout will begin in 2027 with the first plant, Almaraz I, and will continue gradually until it ends in 2035 with the seventh and last plant, Trillo.. Currently, nuclear energy contributes around 20% of the electricity produced in Spain, according to data from Red Eléctrica.

This new proposal represents a change of plans with respect to what had been initially proposed, a centralized warehouse for the fuel for the seven reactors.. The Government paralyzed the ATC, whose location was a political and social problem, in 2018.

Meanwhile, the AGP is a definitive solution that combines traditional protection measures such as formwork with those provided naturally by the geography itself.. Areas are sought that can serve as a natural repository and that are difficult to access, in which the soil and stone are not porous to avoid corrosion of the elements in which the nuclear material will be stored.. It is also sought that they are not areas that are affected by natural phenomena (mainly, earthquakes and seismic movements).. Finland is the country most advanced with its, Onkalo – Finnish word that could be translated as 'moat' or 'cavity' – expected to be up and running in 2025.