Santa Maria de Garoña nuclear power plant

The Santa María de Garoña nuclear power plant is currently in the pre-dismantling stage, after the Ministry of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda denied the renewal of exploitation. The site is located on a peninsula formed by a meander of the Ebro River, close to the village of Garoña in the Tobalina valley, in the province of Burgos.

The owner of this plant is Nuclenor, which is property of Endesa by 50% and Iberdrola by 50%. Nuclenor started its corporate activities in 1957. Construction work on the plant began in 1966 and concluded in 1971. The facility launched its industrial activity on March 2nd, 1971. Garoña has been shut down, with no electricity production, since December 16th 2012. All the fuel was removed from the reactor on December 22nd of that same year. On July 6th 2013, the plant officially entered its decommissioning stage due to exclusively economic reasons, not technical or related to safety.

On August 1st 2017, the Ministry of Energy denied the renewal of the exploitation authorization for the site, despite a favorable report from the Nuclear Security Council issue. Currently Nuclenor is working on the pre-dismantling work. Meawhile, Enresa, the national radioactive waste company, is preparing the necessary documentation to request authorization to carry on with the dismantling and transfer titularity. The pre-dismantling activities consist of refurbishing the operational waste, unloading spent fuel from the pool into the Temporary Individualized Storage Facility and creating the list of the preparatory dismantling activities along with Enresa.

The plant's operation indicators and results have remained at the same level as the world's major nuclear power plants with the same technology.

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