The world today has its eyes on nuclear power, after the dramatic events triggered by the earthquake in Japan. And it is inevitable to ask what happens in our country? While the nuclear power stations are built with high standards of prevention and safety, are - potentially - highly dangerous before a failure, as the produced in Fukushima Prefecture (Japan).
Spain have already had a sample of the danger of nuclear accident level 3 (according to the scale of INES "major accident") produced in 1989 in the reactor of Vandellòs I. Although there was no leak of radioactivity to the outside, this should be closed and will remain in dormant until 2028, when the reactor may just be dismantled. Other incidents have been in power plants of disgust I, Vandellós II, Trillo and Cofrentes.
Due to the always latent possibility of an accident and added this to the serious problem of radioactive wastes that occur due to this activity, there are many citizens and agencies who are protesting against the use of such energy sources. In their complaint, they call for the dismantling of nuclear plants in Spain, supplanting their production by renewable energy clean.
Nuclear energy is the source of 20% of the electricity produced in Spain, through six nuclear power plants currently in work, two of which (ASCO and Almaraz) have two reactors. We look at some basic information about nuclear power plants in Spain:
ALMARAZ Nuclear power plant:
It is located at Almaraz (Cáceres), next to the marshes of the river Tagus. It has two pressurized light water reactors. It has a capacity of 980 MWe (Almaraz I) and 984 MWe (Almaraz II).
ASCÓ Nuclear power plant:
Located in disgust (Tarragona), next to the River Ebro. It has 2 PWR reactors with a capacity of 1032,5 MWe (ASCO I) and 1.027,2 (Ascó II). Its operating licence expires in October this year. In 2007 there was an accident of level 2, a radioactive leak in the reactor of Ascó I, which was not notified by the company and that a high fine was imposed and there is an open criminal case.
COFRENTES Nuclear power plant:
Located in Cofrentes (Valencia), reservoir jetties, Júcar river. It has a light water reactor boiling (BWR), with a power of 1.096 MWe. The extension of the authorization of exploitation, which expires 20-03-2011, after the incident in Japan is under review.
TRILLO Nuclear power plant:
Located in Trillo (Guadalajara), on the banks of the Tagus. It has a power of 1066 MWe PWR reactor. In 1992 he recorded an incident level II which affected part of the element of the emergency cooling system.
It is located in Santa María de garoña (Burgos), in the Ebro river. It has a BWR reactor with a capacity of 466 MWe.
Nuclear power plant VANDELLÓS II:
It is located in Hospitalet in the L'infant (Tarragona), on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It has a power of 1.087,1 MWe PWR reactor. Two water leaks occurred in 2004 and 2005, which reached level 2.
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