The Spanish Ministry of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda denied the license renewal of Nuclenor's operating license for the 447 MWe (466 MW capacity) Santa Maria de Garoña nuclear power plant in Burgos (Spain), which means the facility will be forced to enter the decommissioning phase. The reactor is Spain's oldest nuclear unit and has not been active since 2012.
Nuclenor, the joint venture of Endesa and Iberdrola in charge of the operation of the plant, submitted plans to Nuclear Safety Council (Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear, CSN) to restart the facility in 2014. The company had decided to shut down the plant earlier than planned to avoid paying a full year of retroactive taxes (about €153m) on nuclear power plants operating on 1 January 2013. However, its operating licence ran until 6 July 2013 and new regulatory changes allowed the company to apply for a licence renewal until 6 July 2014. Nuclenor then requested a renewal of the operating license of the plant until 2031, which would extend the plant's lifetime to 60 years but this approval was denied and the plant will have to be decommissioned.
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