Traditionally, September arrived, and it was time to review the summer notebooks, those reinforcement exercises we did either to maintain some study habits during the leisure months or to strengthen the subjects that had been a bit weak during the school year. So, reminiscing on that practice, we wonder if our politicians, as they return to their seats in the Parliament, have included the chapter on energy planning and nuclear power plants in their summer tasks. Let’s do a review…
- What technology allows us to use radiodiagnosis, radiotherapy (teletherapy and brachytherapy), and nuclear medicine (diagnosis and therapy)? Nuclear.
- What energy has been producing around one-fifth of the electricity for twelve consecutive years? Nuclear.
- What energy avoided the emission of about 20 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in 2023? Nuclear.
- What technology helps sterilize food, achieve more resilient crop varieties to help reduce hunger, and contributes to environmental preservation? Nuclear.
In our review, we also recall that nuclear power plants operate safely, reliably, and efficiently. They are designed, maintained, and operated robustly and securely, following the highest international safety standards, all under the strict and continuous monitoring of an independent body, the Nuclear Safety Council.
Although there are several political positions, the People´s Party Group submitted a non-legislative proposal to Congress last July, urging the government to agree on a moratorium within three months on the scheduled closure of nuclear power plants and to keep nuclear energy within the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan. Every effort helps, but we need more, and we need it in the short-term. We are talking about preventing our nuclear plants from closing, thereby maintaining more than 20,000 highly qualified jobs in the sector and, ultimately, sustaining an industry that contributes more than 1 billion euros annually in taxes.
In the Spanish Nuclear Society, we are doing everything in order to provide information that facilitates decision-making process based on technical criteria. Time is running out, and we will continue to dispel myths—a task we’ve taken on as a duty to inform the public, which we deeply value. Society deserves rigor, transparency, and to be told the facts as they are, and we will continue to uphold the true value that nuclear energy deserves. But time is running out; if nothing changes, in 2027, Almaraz Unit 1 will be the first unit to be disconnected from the electrical grid, and honestly, we would like to change the beginning of the end. Review, study, and let’s pass this course with the lesson of nuclear energy well learned.
