Madrid - Spain will allow the country's oldest nuclear power plant to operate until 2013, despite an initial pledge to close it by 2011, Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian announced Thursday. The government had to take a decision on the 466 megawatt Garona plant near Burgos before its operating licence expired Sunday.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's socialist government earlier announced plans to phase out nuclear plants as their life spans expired, and the original 40-year life span that Garona was designed for ends in 2011.
However, the nuclear security watchdog CSN recommended that Garona continue operating for another decade, on the condition that it is modernized and its security is upgraded.
The government decided to keep the plant functioning only until April 2013, Sebastian said, describing the decision as "coherent, responsible, technically justifiable and energetically acceptable."
The compromise solution was criticized both by environmentalists and the pro-nuclear lobby, which had turned Garona into a symbol in their ongoing dispute.
Environmentalists see Garona as obsolete and unsafe, while its defenders say Spain needs nuclear power in addition to the rapidly growing renewable energies.
The modernization of Garona is expected to cost the operating companies Iberdrola and Endesa at least 50 million euros (70 million dollars).
Garona only produced about 1 per cent of Spain's energy, had ageing technology, and produced 50 per cent more high-activity waste than other Spanish nuclear plants, Zapatero said earlier on Thursday.
There were hardly any nuclear plants older than Garona functioning in the world, he observed.
The Socialist Party would honour its electoral pledge of closing nuclear plants, as long as that did not cause problems to energy supplies, the premier explained.
The environmental group Greenpeace has announced legal action if the government does not close Garona.
AMAC, an association representing municipalities with nuclear plants, also announced a court case over the economic damage caused by the government's decision. The Garona plant employs 800 people.
The government will develop an industrial plan in the area to make up for lost jobs, Sebastian promised.
Spain's six nuclear plants contribute about 20 per cent of the country's electricity needs.
