Nuclenor, the operator of the 446 MW Garoña nuclear power plant in Spain, has been fined €18.4m by the National Commission on Financial Markets and Competition (Comision Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia, CNMC, Spanish financial regulator) for shutting down the plant six months earlier than originally planned. Nuclenor, a joint venture of Iberdrola and Endesa, had decided in September 2012 not to submit an operating licence renewal application for the plant, expected to operate until 6 July 2013; the plant was shut down in December 2012 to avoid paying a full year of retroactive tax charges (about €153m) on nuclear plants operating on 1 January 2013. Nuclenor will lodge an appeal against the fine. In June 2014, the company requested a renewal of the operating license of the plant until 2031, which would extend the plant's lifetime to 60 years. The joint venture of Endesa and Iberdrola had until 6 July 2014 to call for the licence renewal, as permitted by the Royal Decree 102/2014 (21 February 2014), allowing recently shut-down nuclear power plants to apply for a renewal of their operating license.
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