Greenpeace Blockades Ageing Spanish Nuclear Plant
SPAIN: November 21, 2008
MADRID - Greenpeace blocked the entrance on Thursday to a Spanish nuclear
power station facing closure next year and urged the government to shut it
down immediately in line with election pledges to phase out nuclear power.
The environmental group said 30 protesters were arrested outside Garona, the
first of seven nuclear plants whose operating permits come up for renewal
between 2009-11, within the mandate of the recently re-elected Socialist
government.
Some of those arrested had chained themselves to the plant's gates and eight
protesters were still inside a container which had been outside the entrance
since dawn.
Greenpeace said Spain's booming renewable energy sector could easily replace
the 500 megawatts of power produced by Garona.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero "would make a big mistake if he
decides to turn his back on the anti-nuclear majority," a Greenpeace
statement said.
Nuclear power is unpopular in Spain and both major parties running for last
March's elections vowed to build no new plants. The victorious Socialists,
however, have not ruled out extending the working lives of existing plants,
which supply about 20 percent of Spain's electricity.
A spokesman for Garona's operators said workers had been able to enter the
plant freely and it was working as normal.
"Demonstrations like this only detract from the arguments that want to be
defended," a statement from the plant said.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE Garona reaches the end of the 40-year working life it was
designed for in 2011, so operators have asked the government for a special
extension when the plant's current permit expires in July next year.
Spain's two largest utilities, Iberdrola and Endesa, jointly own Garona,
which is on the Ebro valley, about 350 km (220 miles) north of Madrid in a
mountainous region.
Spain's nuclear industry has drawn much attention since a radioactive leak
at the Asco I plant came to light in April. The CSN nuclear watchdog ruled
that the leak was improperly handled and the government has opened sanctions
proceedings.
An additional spate of unscheduled halts over the summer, including a fire
at the Vandellos II plant, prompted the CSN to tell plants in September that
they would have to observe tighter safety procedures if their operating
permits were to be renewed.
Spain is the world's third-biggest producer of wind power after a boom in
renewable energy aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions and the country's
dependence on imported fuel.
Wind parks in Spain have the capacity to produce more than twice as much
power as nuclear plants, but in practice they generate about half as much as
the wind does not blow steadily.
(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Story by Martin Roberts
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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