17 Dec (NucNet): Spain’s oldest commercially operational nuclear power plant, Santa María de Garoña, has been permanently shut down ahead of the implementation of new taxes that plant operator Nuclenor said could make it bankrupt.
Nuclenor, the Iberdrola and Endesa joint venture that operates the single-unit plant in Burgos, northern Spain, said in a statement that the plant was disconnected from the national grid on 16 December at 22:57 and the operators began to unload the nuclear fuel and transfer it to a storage pool at the plant.
The reactor was scheduled to be shut down on 6 July 2013, but Nuclenor decided to stop plant operations before 31 December after analysing the impact of energy reforms that were approved last week by Spain’s senate. The reforms impose a new tax on energy production and spent nuclear fuel.
The reforms also include a flat tax of six percent on all energy production and two new taxes on nuclear energy.
According to Nuclenor, if the plant remained operational, the reforms would mean an extra 153 million euro (EUR) (201 million US dollars) of taxes for Garoña in 2013 and this would “increase current economic losses to the point of sending the operator into bankruptcy”.
Nuclenor said it has decided to close Garoña early to avoid paying the taxes and to ensure the company can continue to meet its obligations towards workers and suppliers.
Nuclenor said the decision to shut down the plant before 31 December could be avoided if the law doesn’t enter into force or if substantial changes are made to it.
The law will be discussed in the House of Representatives this week, Nuclenor said.
Garoña is a 446-megawatt boiling water reactor unit, which began commercial operation in May 1971.
According to a ministerial order adopted on 3 July 2009, the reactor was scheduled to be shut down on 6 July 2013.
In July 2012, Spain’s industry ministry revoked the order to close the plant in 2013, giving Nuclenor the opportunity to apply for a licence to run the plant until 2019.
But in a letter delivered to the ministry on 6 September 2012, Nuclenor said it was in “no condition” to apply for licence renewal. Nuclenor said this was because of “uncertainty” on how energy sector reform, which was pending government approval at the time, could affect the plant.
