Nuclear companies are finalizing an investment that will leave Almaraz ready to operate for three more years.

"We'll leave it as it is." This is the spirit that has taken hold among the companies that own the Almaraz nuclear power plant (Ibedrola, Endesa, and Naturgy) regarding the possible modification of the nuclear closure schedule in Spain. The energy companies are on the verge of reaching an agreement that would signal to the government their interest in delaying the nuclear closure schedule by at least three years.

The formula will not be in writing, as requested by the Minister for Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, nor as requested by the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, before the Congress of Deputies. The business movement, of which the Executive is aware, albeit only unofficially, is driven by the pressure imposed by the deadlines involved in an infrastructure as complicated as a nuclear power plant. "It is imperative that, for Almaraz to be able to expand its activity, if it is ultimately decided to do so, decisions be made now to ensure it is done with complete safety. Failure to do so would mean closing down nuclear plants in Spain, and that is reckless," say sources familiar with the plan.

The formal request for a nuclear schedule delay could be delayed until March 2026.

The agreement between the energy companies focuses on accurately calculating the cost of updating the safety systems, training authorizations for the plant's operating personnel, whose licenses must be in order for these additional years, and also ordering additional fuel requirements to at least reach 2030, the year until which the plant has operating authorization from the Nuclear Safety Council. The total is approximately €13 million.

This change of position is what has led to the meeting of the company responsible for the management and operation of Almaraz (CNAT), which was scheduled for May 20, being postponed until June.

This is a signal that the Government knows only unofficially.

The energy companies want to give the signal the Executive is asking for without assuming the legal commitment that would be required to submit an official request for plant expansion to the Government. "There's still time for that. The Nuclear Safety Council establishes that a request to close a plant must be made a year and a half before the scheduled date. In the case of Almaraz I, the first to close, that date would be around March 2026.

In other words, with this decision, the nuclear companies would gain more than a year to negotiate with the government. They are putting forward many arguments to convince the government, such as, for example, "the inconsistency of plants with two reactors like Almaraz and Ascó shutting them down unevenly, especially with the two-year delay between the second reactor. This could generate operational risks," they point out. Another point they are using to question the closure of Almaraz in 2027 is that the law stipulates that Enresa would not begin its decommissioning until 2030. "We don't want what happened with Garoña to happen again, where it was idle for years without producing electricity and without being decommissioned," they point out.

The Government insists that the owners should be the ones to pay the cost of dismantling.

Although the real stumbling block at this point in moving the schedule is who pays for the decision. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Minister for Ecological Transition Sara Aagesen have gone from flatly refusing to consider delaying the project to asking companies to request it and, above all, pay for it.

The first step is "almost taken." The second is the one that must be smoothed out. "We accept the principle that the polluter pays, and at no point have we said we won't cover the Enresa tax. The citizens won't pay it," Santiago Araluce, president of the Nuclear Forum, the industry's trade association, stated on May 6 in response to the president.

What complicates the negotiations is determining the limit for this cost: the Enresa tax, which is the cost of decommissioning the nuclear fleet and managing waste. Starting in 2024, it represents a charge of €10.3 per MWh. The companies are challenging its increase in court. But beyond this tax, their demands focus on a tax cut. "What we find unfair is that nuclear technology has to bear taxes that other technologies don't, because that is what prevents us from being profitable," Araluce pointed out, and the CEOs of Endesa and Iberdrola have reiterated this on several occasions. They are demanding at least a reduction in taxes exclusive to the sector, such as the €5.1 per MWh tax on spent fuel or the regional eco-taxes that only Extremadura and Catalonia maintain. Officially, Sánchez has not budged from his position. "Any modification to that rate would be considered state aid by Brussels," the president points out.