Spain on Wednesday confirmed plans to close the country’s nuclear plants by 2035 as it presented energy measures including extended deadlines for renewable projects and adjusted renewable auctions.
The management of radioactive waste and dismantling of the plants, whose shutdown will begin in 2027, will cost about 20.2 billion euros ($22.4 billion) and will be paid for by a fund supported by the plants’ operators, the government said. [emphasis, links added]
The future of the country’s nuclear plants, which generate about a fifth of Spain’s electricity, was a hot issue during the recent electoral campaign, with the conservative opposition People’s Party (PP) pledging to reverse the planned phase-out.
More recently, one of the main business lobbies called for extending the use of these plants.
Among other measures were changes to the rules governing the development of new green energy projects and renewables auctions.
The government agreed to extend key administrative deadlines for new projects. The deadline to obtain a building permit, for example, was increased by six months to 49 months.
Renewable auctions may now include qualitative criteria to take into account social and environmental standards to “recognize the added value of European products,” the Energy Ministry said in a statement.
Top image: Cofrentes nuclear power plant via Wikimedia
Read more at Reuters
If we remember the original motivations for starting the global warming movement, shutting down Spain’s nuclear reactors can be explained. One of the motivations was to force deindustrialization by making energy scarce and expense. Spain with most of Europe is committed to the “adoption of a fossil fuel phase-out agreement, which commits the parties to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems.” On top of this, Spain is now committed to shutting down nuclear, which currently gives them 20% of their power. There is no way renewables can power a modern industrial society as Germany has discovered. Putting all of this together, the only way Spain can meet these commitments is by implementing deindustrialization. There are people in the climate change movement who are working towards this goal.
This is another example of how liberals are incapable of learning from the mistakes of others. When Germany closed down its nuclear power it was forced to reactivate its coal power plants to keep the lights on. With a fifth of Spain’s power coming from nuclear power plants, that is a great deal of power that has come from other sources.
How about phasing out the United Nations and Hard Green instead?