The Ministry of Environment and Transition is congratulating itself for failing to approve this Thursday the “tremendous” amendments to the Sustainable Mobility Act introduced by the PP, which were ultimately not approved by Parliament this Thursday thanks to Janz’s abstention.
A source in Sarah Argesen’s department said the amendments “did nothing substantive” to the reactor closure schedule, but introduced “noise and uncertainty”, sidelined the Nuclear Safety Commission, “an institution as important as the CSN”, and “sought to introduce the idea of automatically extending the useful life of nuclear power plants”.
The amendment was submitted to the Senate by an absolute majority of the People’s Party, but was rejected by one vote on Thursday, with seven members abstaining. The proposal was rejected with 171 votes in favor (including votes from PP, Vox and UPN) and 172 votes against (including PNV and ERC).
The ministry emphasizes that nuclear safety “would have been guaranteed in any case” and “there were not many substantial concerns” even if the initiative had proceeded, but it congratulates itself on having avoided the “noise and uncertainty” it would have caused.
The proposed amendments “do not change nuclear safety regulations, but administrative acts” and highlight the ecological transition by changing the ministerial order for renewing operating permits for power plants without requiring any kind of report from the CSN, where these orders “can only be approved by a mandatory and binding report from the CSN.”
“Today, the closure dates for Almaraz are 2027 and 2028,” the same source points out, noting that Ecological Transition does not require the approval of this PP amendment, which was introduced before the decision of the utility, and does not prompt the paralysis of the closure report of the facility, which the CSN will have to process in parallel with the extension requests requested by Iberdrola, Endesa and Naturzi at the end of October.
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