- The candidates are from five different Autonomous Regions, which demonstrates the interest shown in the Store.
- On 14 December 2004 the Commission of Industry Tourism and Trade of the Congreso de los Diputados [Parliament] unanimously approved a resolution that urged the Government to develop, with the collaboration of ENRESA, - a nuclear waste management company - the criteria for building a Temporary Centralised Store in Spain.
- The forecast for the total investment in the Store is of some 700 million euros. A daily average of 300 workers is estimated for the first stage, with some peaks of up to 500 workers, during the five years it would take to construct the first stage.
As of today, the Ministry of Industry Tourism and Trade has received thirteen applications from municipal areas interested in accommodating the installations for the Temporary Centralised Store for the storage of nuclear fuel waste and high-activity radioactive waste to be built in their municipal districts.
Applications have been received from:
-Albalá (Cáceres).
-Ascó (Tarragona).
-Campo de San Pedro (Segovia).
-Congosto de Valdavia (Palencia).
-Lomas de Campos (Palencia).
-Melgar de Arriba (Valladolid).
-Santervás de Campos (Valladolid).
-Santiuste de San Juan Bautista (Segovia).
-Torrubia de Soria (Soria).
-Yebra (Guadalajara).
-Villar de Cañas (Cuenca).
-Villar del Pozo (Ciudad Real).
-Zarra (Valencia).
In total the applicants are from five different Autonomous Regions, which highlights the interest generated by the Store. The Ministry of Industry recognises the willingness and the transparent and democratic development with which the procedure has been handled by the municipal areas submitting offers.
The Inter-ministerial Committee responsible for developing the procedure will analyse the offers received and in the next few days will publish a short list of candidates and those that have been provisionally excluded.
The towns that are provisionally excluded will have a period of ten days, as of the individual notification they receive from the Ministry, to make any claims regarding their non-acceptance, or to rectify any defects in their applications. Once this step is resolved a final list of those candidates accepted and rejected will be published, with the prior agreement of the Inter-Ministerial Committee. Both lists will be published on the webpage www.emplazamientoatc.es.
The final candidates' municipal areas will then be studied and following this step, those concerned will then be informed if their area is not suitable to accommodate the Store and its technological centre.
Areas not considered suitable are those that form part of the European Natura 2000 Networking Programme for Nature Conservation, including National Parks and other equivalent bodies whose management comes under the Autonomous Regions, Sites of Community Importance and Special Protection Areas for birds (SPAS).
Also excluded are protected areas belonging to the Ministry of Defence, Public Use Scrubland/Woodlands and land forming part of the Spanish Network of Livestock Trails, as well as areas where there are items of heritage interest and places that would require transport to necessarily be by air or sea.
Finally, the Inter-Ministerial Committee will study the proposed lands and will prepare a proposal report that will reflect the advantages of the various sites. The report will be submitted to the Government that by agreement of the Council of Ministers will designate the site chosen for the Temporary Centralised Store and its technological centre.
The Nuclear Waste Dump project
The current Radioactive Waste Plan envisages a centralised solution for the storage of this waste, taking account of strategic, technical, economic and security considerations.
The installation of a Centralised Store was also considered as the best option by the majority of members at the Dialogue Meetings on the evolution of nuclear energy held in November 2005 and May 2006.
In the parliamentary area the need to carry out the appropriate actions for this purpose have been highlighted on several occasion. On the 14 December 2004 the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade Committee of the Congreso de los Diputados [Parliament] unanimously approved a resolution that urged the Government to develop, with the collaboration of ENRESA, the criteria to build a Temporary Centralised Store for nuclear waste in Spain.
Almost all parliamentary groups approved a Resolution on the 27 July 2006 to set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee to establish the criteria that the siting of a Temporary Centralised Store and its associated technological centre will have to meet.
The project consists of the construction of a Store for the dry storage of used fuel and high-activity vitrified waste for a period of 60 years, and a technological centre that will facilitate the necessary activities for the establishment of companies, for which a surface area of some 5 hectares is initially foreseen.
The forecast total investment is for some 700 million euros.
A daily average of 300 workers is estimated for the first stage, with some peaks of up to 500 workers, during the five years it would take to construct the first stage.