(This post is by Carlos Bravo, Nuclear Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace Spain.)
We are living in troubled times in Spain thanks to nuclear energy. The incoherence and inconsistency of the socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero about nuclear energy in the last few weeks has plunged us into confusion. The nuclear lobby is taking advantage of this situation, proving the Spanish proverb that ‘in troubled waters, fishermen gain’.
With much propaganda, but no truth or accurate information, the nuclear lobby was quick to proclaim everywhere that the recently adopted Law of ‘Sustainable’ Economy now allows the Spanish government to ‘extend the life of nuclear plants beyond the 40 years hitherto permitted’.
That’s doubly false. On the one hand, it’s not true that Spanish law says nuclear plants could operate for 40 years and, secondly, it’s not true that the Law of ‘Sustainable’ Economy now allows the extension of the lifetime of nuclear plants beyond 40 years.
In Spain, nuclear plants have never had a certain lifetime set by law. All nuclear power plants are granted temporary operating permits that have to be renewed - at the request of the owner of the plant - by authorization of the central government. This only after receiving the required - but not binding - favourable report from the Nuclear Safety Council.
Rewind to early July 2009, when the operating license expired on the Garoña nuclear plant (38 years old and suffering serious safety problems). The company owner, Nuclenor, had requested an extension of ten years until 2019. The Zapatero Government, instead of closing the plant in 2009, finally decided to order the termination of its operation in 2013. A few days later, stung by criticism, the government publicly announced that the Law of Sustainable Economy would set the the lifetime of nuclear plants at 40 years, fulfilling its election promise.
Zapatero's electoral promise at the 2008 General Election said: ‘We will keep our commitment to phase out nuclear energy, substituting it for safer, cleaner and less expensive energies; closing down nuclear reactors in an orderly fashion over time at the end of its lifetime, giving priority to safety, looking for the highest social consensus, and promoting saving and energy efficiency and renewable energy, distributed generation and transmission and local distribution.’
When proceedings began, the Draft Law on Sustainable Economy in its provisions had, in effect, limited to 40 years the lifetime of nuclear power plants (which is a very generous period of time for the nuclear industry). The bill came out of Congress to the Senate with the article as is, but (what a surprise!) in the Senate any reference to the 40 years lifetime disappeared.
The government had negotiated, surreptitiously, with the opposition parties - Partido Popular, Convergencia i Unio and Partido Nacionalista Vasco - an amendment to eliminate it. And so it remained, despite the scandal that arose, in the final step in Congress, a few days ago. That leaves things as they were previously - without the lifetime of nuclear power plants being fixed in law, which remains in a legal limbo.
So, the only thing that is true is that the Zapatero government has backed away under pressure from the nuclear lobby and has broken its promise to fix in law the 40-year lifetime for nuclear power plants. It has renounced its commitment to its citizens to phase out nuclear energy.