Lack of transparency with regard to the report on the reopening of the Garoña nuclear power plant

31.1.2017

Question for written answer E-000564-17
to the Commission
Rule 130
Izaskun Bilbao Barandica (ALDE)

Spain’s nuclear safety council has begun examining a technical report setting out why the Garoña nuclear power plant should be reopened. The lack of transparency with regard to the content of that report is a patent breach of the Nuclear Safety Directive, as are the measures that Spain announced in 2014 with a view to implementing the principles laid down in the directive, which must be transposed into national legislation by summer 2017. Nor does it appear, furthermore, that the Commission, as required under the rules, has received information on the investment schemes that are apparently set out in detail in the abovementioned report, and that must be implemented in order for the power plant to be reopened. Garoña is the fifth-oldest operational power plant in the world. It generates barely 1% of Spain’s electricity, and reopening it could create a precedent with regard to reviewing the lifecycle of other very old power plants that ought to be closed over the coming decade.

1. Does the Commission take the view that this procedure is in keeping with the transparency requirements laid down in the Nuclear Safety Directive?

2. Has the Commission received any information on the investment schemes referred to in the report, or others relating to the possibility of turning the Garoña power plant into a waste storage facility?