The nuclear lobby is not at a standstill, and this time it was the International Energy Agency (IEA) that “warned” the Spanish government of the possible consequences of the plan to shut down the nuclear power plants of the Spanish state. According to this denuclearization plan approved in 2019, between 2027 and 2035 the last seven reactors should be closed in Spain.

IEA Director General Faith Birol said at a conference organized by the energy sector in Madrid on Tuesday that Pedro Sánchez’s government should “rethink” the schedule for shutting down nuclear power plants. To this end, he cites Germany as an example and refers to the “negative impact” of the closure of nuclear power plants in that country. Germany shut down its last three power plants on 15 April 2023, marking the last step in a transition process that began after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Birol has taken the current geopolitical and climatic context to stand up against the closure of nuclear power plants: “It is not, as it was a few years ago, a matter of ecological awareness. Countries need to prepare for a new era of energy security,” he said.

Thus, in his speech, the head of the EIA used the same arguments of the nuclear lobby, linked to the production of electricity: The need to reduce the energy “dependence” of European countries due to the war in Ukraine, the increase in the demand for electric cars, the creation of giant data centers, or the need to have “air conditioning” in homes in the face of climate change, among others.

The event is organized by the Energy Club and the Naturgy Foundation. Naturgy is one of the main shareholders of the Almaraz and Trillo nuclear power plants, with profits of 1.9 billion euros last year. The president of this company, Francisco Reynes, last week requested the postponement of the closure of Almara, as did Iberdrola and Endesa, shareholders of the plant.

The Spanish government is not the only one that is under pressure from the nuclear lobby. Belgium, for example, has recently agreed to extend the life of two reactors in that country for another ten years; and in Germany itself, the resumption of the last three reactors shut down is under discussion.

“Let the Antinuclear Struggle Return”

Marisa Castro, a member of Ecologistas en Acción, spoke about this pressure to keep nuclear power plants open on Radio 97FM. He explains that the nuclear lobby is “counter-attacking” everywhere: “As we saw when they were going to close Garoña, now we are seeing the same thing when they are going to close Almaraz. They always do,” says the anti-nuclear activist.

Castro recently wrote an article in the newspaper El Salto on this subject: “For a plant to continue operating beyond the established schedule, it needs huge monetary investments to ensure its safety and long-term operation. It would be better if they spent all that money on real clean energy sources and the technologies of the future.” He says nuclear energy will not survive without public support, “and that’s what the nuclear lobby is looking for.”

Radio broadcaster 97FM asks Castro if it is not “tiring” to return to the debates of the 1980s that were supposedly overcome. In this sense, the member of Ecologistas de Marcha recalls that in the 1980s there were attempts to build 30 nuclear power plants in the Spanish state, and that in the end only seven were made as a result of the protests: “If the 1980’s return, the anti-nuclear struggle will also return.”