The Santa María de Garoña Nuclear Power Plant is located on a peninsula formed by a meander of the river Ebro, close to the village of the same name in the Tobalina valley in the province of Burgos.

Nuclenor, the plant owner company -50% Endesa - 50% Iberdrola-, began its business activities in 1957 and was the pioneer in Spain in the use of nuclear energy for electricity generation. The plant works began in 1966 and concluded in 1971, the facility initiating its industrial activity on 2nd March of that year.

The annual production of the plant is approximately 4,000 million kWh, i.e. some 7% of Spain's nuclear electricity and 2.5% of the country's total annual electricity generation. These figures are equivalent approximately to 50% of the electricity consumption in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León and a third of consumption in the Basque Country. The production from Garoña would cover the electrical needs of more than a million people every year. The plant operating results reflect continuous improvement, especially in recent years; since the plant went on line the operating factor has been close to 80%, and the load factor close to 74%. During the last decade these figures have increased to over 90%.

One of the characteristics of NUCLENOR is the company's interest in informing the public of the facts of its activities. Various means are used for this. Possibly the most important is the plant Information Centre, which is visited every year by almost 20,000 people, most of them involved in the world of teaching. The company also publishes the two-monthly magazine INFO, with a circulation of 13,000.

The Information Centre is one of the most important seats of Nuclenor activity in the area, where the company collaborates in a multitude of initiatives aimed at improving the standard of living of the local people. In this respect, the estimated economic impact of operation of the plant is around 25 million of euros per year, for purchases and contracting, taxes and other levies, the generation of employment, etc.

During 2009, the plant produced 3579.85 millions of kWh. This unity had in June 2010 an cumulative gross of 123.3561.565 MWh.