Foro Nuclear

On July 17th, 1968, only five years after a group of companies and visionary professionals led the launching of nuclear energy in Spain, and three and a half years after construction started, the José Cabrera Nuclear Plant, also known as Zorita, began its operation.

The site became a pioneer of nuclear-originated electric generation in Spain, the driving force of national engineering and industry, a starting point for many activities and companies and the basis for many nuclear energy professionals. Each moment of the process was followed with maximum attention by experts, institutions and public opinion, with a high degree of Spanish participation, greater than one would think of a "turnkey" power plant. It was Spain's first nuclear experience, a site whose characteristics included the world's greatest circulation pump.

In 2011, the nuclear-generated electric production of the eight reactors amounted to 19,64% of the total electric production (293,737 GWh) with a total power of 7,796,1 MW, which represents 7,32% of the total installed capacity in Spain (106,306 MW).

Production from the nuclear park represented over 40% of the emissions-free electricity generated in the Spanish electric system.

The acronym stands for the Spanish translation of “Centralised Temporary Storage.”

It is one of the existing options for the storage of high activity nuclear waste and spent fuel once the pools at nuclear power plants are saturated. It will allow for the centralization of management and surveillance of all waste in one single site, without the need to build a storehouse per plant, thus reducing the number of storage facilities. It also makes it possible to comply with the clauses pertaining to the repatriation of waste and materials from spent fuel reprocessing abroad, whilst reducing global environmental impact.

The environment is the whole set, at a given moment, of the physical, chemical, biological, cultural and social aspects of the surroundings that are prone to have a direct or indirect, immediate or long term effect on living beings and human activities. All energy sources have environmental repercutions at some point in their production cycle.

Climate change is perhaps the greatest enviromental problem that humanity faces, and this motivates the impulse of energy sources towards no CO₂ sources such as renewables and nuclear.

Spain is considering national nuclear fuel supply according to what is established by the State Secretariat for Energy at the Ministry of Industry.  

Long term operation is continuous operation of the nuclear power plant, maintaining an acceptable safety level, beyond the initial period considered at the time of its design, and after a safety evaluation that ensures the continuity of safety requisites applicable to the plant’s systems, structures and components.

The purpose of refueling is to replace one third of the total fuel in the reactor nucleus with new fuel, storage the removed spent fuel in pools and place the remaining two thirds of fuel in other positions within the nucleus, so as to optimize its burn degree or use.

Nuclear fission is a reaction wherein a heavy nucleus is bombarded by neutrons and thus becomes unstable, which causes it to decompose into two nuclei with equivalent size and magnitude, with a great detachment of energy and the emission of two or three neutrons.

The main purpose of radioactive waste management is to protect humans (both public and workers) and the environment through the application of necessary technologies and means, according to the legally established regulations.

Radioactivity was discovered by the French scientist Antoine Henri Becquerel in 1986 practically by chance, while he researched the fluorescence of double uranium and potassium sulphate. He discovered that the uranium spontaniously emitted a mysterious radiation. Later it would be revealed that other elements besides uranium also possess this ability to emit radiation without being previously excited. This property was called radiation.