On 24 February, the Spanish Nuclear Society (SNE) organised a seminar entitled Nuclear Power Plants in 2010: Experiences and Perspectives. This was the latest edition of a well-established annual event. This year representatives of the Spanish nuclear industry discussed, along with university staff, teachers and students, issues relating to nuclear power plant operation in 2010 and to the future of the nuclear industry.
This year, a special session was devoted to the subject entitled: Economic Crisis and Energy Model. It was moderated by Lola Morales, acting for the last time in her capacity as Vice President of SNE. The guest speakers present were Pedro Rivero, former UNESA president and José Claudio Aranzadi, former Minister of Industry and Energy. Their basic messages were that Spain is the European country with the most expensive industrial electricity tariff, followed by Slovakia, Italy and Cyprus. The cheapest are those with the highest percentage of nuclear production, namely France and Finland. The UK’s proces rank half-way down the tariffs league table.
During the SNE Ordinary General Assembly, which took place after the seminar, Lola Morales was elected new President of the Society and Diego Molina was elected Vice President.
The 37th Annual Meeting will be held from 28 - 30 September 2011, in the city of Burgos, to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Santa María de Garoña NPP. The proposal of Nuclenor, the company hosting the meeting, that Antonio Cornadó, Communications Director at Nuclenor, be nominated Chairman of the Organising Committee was approved by the SNE Governing Board. All the relevant information about the meeting is available at: www.reunionanualsne.es.
The conference Nuclear Power Sector: Source of Power, Source of Jobs was held at the University of Cantabria (Santander) on 11 November. On 19 December, the SNE also participated in a seminar at the Spanish Congress entitled: Nuclear Energy: Used Fuel Management.
The new SNE website, www.sne.es , is now operational. This event went hand-in-hand with the previously-mentioned redesign of the logo and the finalising of the Annual Meeting web site at: www.reunionanualsne.es
The Spanish Parliament approved an amendment to the Sustainable Economy Act that allowed, at the owner’s request, a lifetime extension beyond 40 years. This took into account the decisions reached by the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) and the evolution of demand and technology. This amendment will not affect the earlier decision to close Garoña NPP in 2013.
The Nuclear España Best Article Prize has been awarded this year to the paper entitled: La percepción pública de la energía nuclear en Europa del Este: pasado y presente, which was written by A. Álvarez and G. Jiménez from Westinghouse Electric, Spain. The consolation prize went to the paper entitled: El Mix Energético Español: evolución histórica y prevista de la estructura de producción eléctrica, which was written by J. Revuelta and R. López from Red Eléctrica de España.
An Honorific Citation was also given to the following papers: 25 Aniversario de la fábrica de elementos combustibles de Juzbado and Central Nuclear Ascó 2044. |
