PP government reverses plans to close down nuclear plant

Industry, Energy and Tourism Minister José Manuel Soria said Monday that the Popular Party (PP) government will not close any of Spain's nuclear plants "at the current time, given that the Cabinet wants to lower the price of electricity."

Speaking in a radio interview, Soria suggested that the government will reconsider keeping the Santa María Garoña nuclear plant in Burgos open for the time being. The former Socialist government announced that it would close Garoña in 2013. The new minister said that he didn't favor giving out permits for new nuclear reactors but instead wants to concentrate on tapping into other sources, such as wind and solar power, and continuing to rely on the current batch of nuclear reactors.

"The PP doesn't want to underutilize any sources of energy, especially nuclear because there are eight nuclear reactors, which according to the Nuclear Security Council (CSN) could still continue providing energy for a determined amount of time."

Soria said that the government will continue exploiting the energy from the reactors for a number of years to come, as long as the CSN agrees it is safe to do so.