Today something inexplicable will happen in the Cáceres area of the Campo Arañuelo community. There, this January morning, senior leaders of the PP and PSOE from Extremadura will go hand in hand, along with representatives of Vox, regionalists and mayors of all colors, marching against the plans of the Government of Pedro Sanchez to close the main industry in the region, which supports a large part of the young people and their families in aging towns due to rural depopulation.
Everyone will put aside their differences to walk from the Almaraz Town Hall to the doors of the power plant nuclear plant that provides work to the municipalities in the area. Up to 3,000 jobs are at stake, since more than 1,000 people work daily at the plant, which generates another 2,000 direct jobs in the region, making it the second entity by number of employees in Extremadura.
However, with each passing day there are fewer possibilities of saving the plant and the “point of no return” is closer. Almaraz, which together with Trillo supplies almost 50% of the energy to Madrid, will be the first to close: reactor I in November 2027 and reactor II in October 2028.
“There is this quarter or at the latest the next one to save it and if Almaraz is sacrificed the rest of the plants will suffer and with them the entire electrical system,” he warns. Ignacio Aralucepresident of the Nuclear Forum, a position that he will transfer in March to Luis Soriano, until now director of the World Association of Nuclear Operators.
But to continue operating “there would have to be a tax policy change» because the tax pressure has skyrocketed by 70% in the last five years, even more so with the 30% increase in the so-called “Enresa rate”, to 10.36 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) produced, which is appealed in the Supreme Court.
The possibility, although remote, is still possible and It would even leave open the option for Almaraz to operate until 2030 since, although the managers of the plant (53% Iberdrola, 36% Endesa and 11% Naturgy) requested a review of the license for the period in which its closure is signed, the license granted contains that security conditions are met so that it works for three more years, as Soriano explains.
If this were the case, Spain would no longer be an exception – along with Germany, where the pro-nuclear debate has been reopened after the change of scenario due to the Russian gas cut-off due to the invasion of Ukraine – and would be hooked on the “wave”. nuclear”, which goes from the US, where Donald Trump has promised to promote it, to Japanwhich after overcoming the Fukushima disaster has 33 reactors ready, although only a dozen are operating for now, and has two under construction.
As the International Energy Agency highlights, the pace of construction of new atomic reactors, which represent a capacity of 71 gigawatts, has not occurred for three decades, and there are already more than 40 countries with nuclear development plans.
In this context, Does the closure of Almaraz make sense And the other four centers? He mayor of Belvís de Monroy and spokesperson for the platform “Yes to Almaraz, yes to the future” It’s clear. “It’s a nonsense and a disaster not only because of the economic issue, but because of the impact it would have on depopulation. Almost 80% of the people I know work for the headquarters. It is assumed that the ministry that wants to close it is from the Ecological Transition and also from the Demographic Challenge. We do fight for rural depopulation because this plant provides jobs to the region and we have agreements with institutes to train young people who then stay working in the plant, between 70% and 85% stay. If Almaraz closes all that will be lost. “Those young people will have to leave and even I myself, with a two-year-old son, will have to emigrate.”acknowledges Fernando Sánchez, who in addition to being the mayor of Belvís is a technician at the plant.
Goodbye to data centers?
But the consequences go beyond the region. «It is going to be a catastrophe for all of Extremadura and for all of Spain. We have to be aware that Almaraz It generates 61.5% of Extremadura’s energy and 7% of Spain’s energy. If we want to reindustrialize Europe, what industries are looking for is stable energy and that is what nuclear power gives you,” adds Sánchez. His explanation has to do with data centers focused on the development of Artificial intelligence that have emerged and are expanding not only in Madrid, but also in Talavera de la Reina or in Navalmoral de la Mata (Cáceres) and Valdecaballeros (Badajoz) where Merlin Properties plans to develop two campuses.
«These centers cannot be without energy for even an hour and that security is given to you by a nuclear power plant. Therefore, if Almaraz closes, the new industries will think about where they have to go to ensure supply and Extremadura now has to grow», claims the councilor of Belvís, from the Levanta regionalist party.
What nobody understands in the region, according to Sánchez, is the stubbornness in the closure when the rules have changed with the invasion of Ukraine and the European decision to dispense with Russian gas, and with 56 reactors on the other side of the Pyrenees. «Ours are safe. In fact, Almaraz is one of the three safest power plants in Europe and among the ten safest in the world, according to international standards.
Nobody around Almaraz wants to think about the day after the blackout. «I don’t know what we will do. The central leaves 100 million euros with the Board, but for the town councils it represents 60% of the budget, with which we cover the needs of the people. Like the home help staff for our elderly, which I have had to expand,” concludes the spokesperson for a march whose slogan could well be “It’s the economy and the people, stupid.”