10 Feb (NucNet): Spain’s nuclear regulator, Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear (CSN), has conditionally approved the restart of the single-unit Santa Maria de Garoña nuclear power station in Burgos, northern Spain, pending a series of modifications and conditions, CSN said in a statement.
CSN’s board voted four to one in favour of allowing the single-unit plant, which has been mothballed since the end of 2012, to restart.
This would require the operator Nuclenor, which is jointly owned by Spain’s two largest utilities Iberdrola and Endesa, to carry out a series of additional activities before the energy ministry can approve the restart, CSN said.
CSN said some conditions apply to all operators of nuclear power stations in Spain and include administrative procedures regarding documentation and safety plans, and the handling of radioactive waste.
However, two further sets of conditions need to be met, the first before any fuel is loaded into the reactor and the second before the reactor is restarted. Further CSN approval is required before these stages, CSN said.
Garoña was shut down in December 2012, six months before its operational licence was due to expire.
At the time, owner Nuclenor blamed the shutdown on a tax on energy production and spent nuclear fuel that it said would have made the plant’s operation economically unviable.
In May 2014, Nuclenor submitted a request to renew the operating licence after a change in national law allowed nuclear power stations that have shut down for reasons not related to safety to restart.
Garoña began commercial operation in 1971. CSN updated its operational and safety requirements in 2012 and in 2014 as a result of European Union-mandated post-Fukushima stress tests.
Spain has seven commercial nuclear reactors which accounted for 21.38% of the country’s total electricity output in 2016, up from 20.34% in 2015 and more than any other source.
