The Economic History of Nuclear Energy in Spain by M. d. Mar Rubio-Varas & Joseba Torre

Author:M. d. Mar Rubio-Varas & Joseba Torre
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

Figure 5.3 helps with the analysis of the geographical distribution of the nuclear applications by the utilities and the pre-authorizations by the government. The distribution of the nuclear applications and pre-authorizations mirrors the distribution of the Spanish market that the electricity companies had been employing since the 1940s.58 Three large areas (Centre-North, Centre-East and Catalonia ) took about three quarters of the nuclear market and three other areas applied for about the last quarter. In most cases, nuclear projects resulted from joint partnerships among the private electricity utilities. Only the largest private companies (Iberduero, Hidrola, UEM, FECSA and Sevillana) dared applying for nuclear projects on their own. UEM had already done it with Zorita. Of the remaining attempts, only Hidrola (Cofrentes) and FECSA (Ascó I) will manage to conclude a nuclear project singlehandedly (see Appendix A).

Figure 5.4 shows the individual company’s commitment to nuclear energy. In the middle of the nuclear euphoria, in September 1973, Iberduero applied at once for authorization to install five reactors for a total of almost 5,000 MWe.59 It implied enlarging what already was the largest nuclear scheme of any single company: Iberduero owned half of Garoña (460 MWe) already in operation, and the company had started building two reactors in Lemoniz (930 MWe each). Sevillana applied for 5000 MWe in three different sites in the six months between December 1973 and May 1974. FECSA also doubled its nuclear ambitions between 1973 and 1974. The combined nuclear capacity planed by the three of them— Iberduero, Sevillana and FECSA—exceeded the nuclear aspirations of all the remaining Spanish utilities together. If we only consider the plants pre-authorized by the government, then the installed capacity pre-authorized to those three companies plus Hidrola concentrated two-thirds of the Spanish nuclear project.

Fig. 5.4Nuclear capacity planned by Spanish utilities 1959–1975

Sources and notes: Own elaboration from data in Appendix A. Hidrola’s pre-authorized capacity includes the 500 MWe of Irta’s project. The company abandoned the project in 1973

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