European Nuclear Society
e-news Issue 40 Spring 2013
http://www.euronuclear.org/e-news/e-news-40/sne-news.htm

SNE News

The SNE (Spanish Nuclear Society) recently organised its yearly winter conference Nuclear Power Plants in 2012: Experiences and Perspectives. During the event representatives of the Spanish nuclear industry discussed issues related to nuclear power plant operation during 2012 and the future of the nuclear industry. Once again university representatives, both teachers and students, participated.

This year, the Special Session was devoted to the new Spanish law on New Taxes of Electrical /Nuclear Sector and the speakers presented their views on the impact that this new law will have on the sustainability of electricity supply. The session was moderated by the President of the Spanish Nuclear Society, Francisco José Lopez Garcia, and the guest speakers were Carlos Salle, Regulatory Affairs Manager at Iberdrola Group and Luis María Cazorla, Professor of Financing and Taxes Rights at the University of King Juan Carlos. Their basic messages centred upon the economic impacts that the new law will have on nuclear energy generation and on the wider consequences.

The SNE’s Ordinary General Assembly then took place immediately after the Special Session. The agenda included the nomination of the Society’s President and Vice President. Francisco Lopez and Jose Ramon Torralvo, respectively, were reconfirmed in their positions.

The 39^th Annual Meeting of the SNE will be held from 25 - 27 September 2013 in the city of Reus, and will be hosted by ENDESA. All the relevant information about the meeting is available at: www.reunionanualsne.es.

The Nuclear España Best Article Prize this year was awarded to authors of the paper entitled Fukushima: Severe accident, Luis Enrique Herranz Puebla and Mónica Garcia Martin, both from CIEMAT. The Awards Committee also gave an Honorific Mention to the SNE magazine issue entitled 30 years of nuclear information.

Regarding the activities of the Young Generation Network, Jóvenes Nucleares, it is worth highlighting the organisation of the next International Youth Nuclear Congress (IYNC), which will be held in Burgos (Spain) from 6 - 12 July 2014.

SPANISH NPP NEWS

The contribution of Spanish nuclear power plants in 2012 to national electricity production was 20.6% of the total. Nuclear generation was the number one generator in Spain, followed by coal (19.3%), wind (16.5%), gas combined cycle (14.2%), cogeneration (13%), hydraulic (8%), other renewables (5.9%) and other fuel (2.5%).

Due to the retroactive application of the new taxes law, which would have had an impact on the NPP of 153 million €, the Santa María de Garoña NPP was shut down at the end of 2012.  The rest of Spain’s NPPs started investing in safety upgrade projects following the "stress test" studies. These projects will be finalised by 2016.

© European Nuclear Society, 2013