Cuenca hamlet cheers after winning bid for nuclear waste site

The residents of the small town of Villar de Cañas, near Cuenca, were perhaps the happiest of all Spaniards following Friday's announcement of austerity measures. The Castilla-La Mancha hamlet won a controversial bid to host the Centralized Temporary Storage nuclear waste site (ATC), expected to bring in 700 million euros and create some 300 direct jobs.

With around 450 residents, Villa de Cañas is mainly an agricultural town located some 90 minutes away by automobile from Madrid. Castilla-La Mancha government spokesman Leandro Esteban called it "magnificent news" even though Popular Party (PP) regional premier María Dolores de Cospedal has been initially against the idea of having the ATC in any PP-controlled region.

The battle among town mayors for the ATC began in 2009, when the Socialist government announced that it would seek offers from towns willing to host the waste facility. In September 2010, a commission determined that among the candidates, Zarra, in Valencia, would be the ideal spot for the ATC. But after the 551 residents of Zarra and their supporters took to the streets, blocking off main roads for several days in protest, the Cabinet postponed the decision.