Overview
- The Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear approved a favourable technical report on Thursday that allows Almaraz’s two reactors to operate until 8 June 2030 but added a new condition requiring verified safety‑related staffing levels for 2028–2030.
- The dossier is now with the Ministry for the Transition Ecológica, which must decide whether to grant the prórroga and faces effectively just over two months to act unless it suspends procedural deadlines.
- If the Government does not authorize an extension before the RINR one‑year notice cut‑off, the plant owners would have to start formal cessation paperwork for Almaraz I ahead of its current 1 November 2027 deadline.
- Almaraz produced 15,370 GWh in 2025—about 7% of Spain’s electricity—and supports thousands of local jobs and roughly €435 million in annual taxes, prompting strong pressure from regional authorities and business groups for a quick approval.
- Operators point to international precedents and WANO assessments to argue the extension is technically feasible, while the decision could trigger calls to revise the national reactor‑closure schedule for other plants.