This is what the Spanish nuclear industry is asking for, when we see that Europe and the rest of the world are giving us an image in which nuclear energy is a bet on the future, while in our country we insist on burying it.
The operating results of the nuclear power plants in 2023 show, with data, that the seven reactors operating in Spain have contributed 54,275.01 GWh to the system, a figure that represents 20.34% of the total net electricity production. The Spanish nuclear power plants were available for practically 90% of the hours of the year. They avoid the annual emission of around 20 million tonnes of CO2. We are the key to security of supply and decarbonisation, and we can be competitive if they let us.
The data, these data, are solid and they are what allowed nuclear energy to be included last year in the text negotiated at COP28 in Europe and around the world as one of the technologies necessary to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Another issue that deserves a review and the application of common sense has to do with the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC), which needs to be re-evaluated on the basis of technical and realistic criteria and adapted to current needs, given that circumstances have changed significantly since the signing of the final agreement under this plan in 2019. The technical bases on which the PNIEC was drawn up are not being met, and the sensible thing to do, before abandoning nuclear energy, would be to explain clearly how we are going to replace it, to put all our cards on the table.
We cannot afford to go against the tide, because Europe and the rest of the world are including nuclear in their energy futures for competitiveness, security of supply and commitment to decarbonisation. France is leading a nuclear alliance in Europe of 15 countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Sweden. We are moving in the opposite direction, and we are doing it alone, and that alone should give us pause for thought.
We have facilities and we have to claim the intangible but incalculable value of nuclear professionals. A value that we will lose if we close the nuclear plants. Spain has been able to create an industry of strategic value and this heritage must be preserved. Let us use common sense…
These are warnings, these are data, these are realities that the politicians and governments of this country must dare to face and evaluate (both here and abroad). If we have the framework to do so, we nuclear professionals will not tire of repeating that we have a lot to lose by shutting down our nuclear power plants, and we do not believe the discourse of those who try to convince us otherwise.
