‘Logical response’ to recent blackout would be to abandon planned reactor phaseout
Spain’s fleet of seven commercial nuclear power plants generated almost 20% of the country’s total net electricity production in 2024, guaranteeing the supply and energy independence that are essential in the current geopolitical context, Madrid-based industry group Foro Nuclear said.
In the latest edition of its annual report Foro Nuclear said Spain’s nuclear fleet generated almost 52.4 TWh net in 2024, slightly down from the 54.4 TWh generated in 2023.
As of 31 December, the total installed net capacity of the electricity generation fleet in Spain was 128,987 MW, of which nuclear accounted for 7,117 MW (net), or 5.52% of the total installed net capacity.
Nuclear was the second largest source of electricity production, behind renewables.
According to figures from Spain’s transmission system operator, Red Eléctrica, renewables accounted for 66% of the country’s total installed capacity and 56.8% of Spain’s electricity generation in 2024, up 10.3% compared with 2023.
“The seven operating reactors continued to guarantee supply and energy independence, as they produce baseload power constantly and reliably," said Foro Nuclear president Ignacio Araluce.
“These aspects are essential in the current geopolitical context, in which Europe is striving to achieve energy sovereignty.”
Araluce had said earlier that nuclear power is needed to stabilise Spain’s electrical system and the country should rethink its planned phaseout following the unprecedented blackout that recently affected the Iberian Peninsula.
The outage has reignited the debate over the plan to decommission all of Spain’s commercial nuclear power reactors by 2035.
Araluce said the logical response would be to keep the nuclear energy Spain has.
Four nuclear units at three nuclear stations were in operation when the outage struck and immediately went offline, but diesel generators kept them in “safe condition”, the country’s nuclear regulator CSN said.
The four units were Almaraz-2, Asco-1, Asco-2 and Vandellos-2.
A minister suggested recently that the government might be open to reconsidering the planned nuclear shutdown amid a global revival of nuclear energy.
