Management and nuclear performance indicators

Management and nuclear performance indicators

Transparency

As a part of our commitment to transparency towards our stakeholders, Iberdrola is including additional information with respect to its nuclear portfolio.

Iberdrola Generación Nuclear S.A.U. (Iberdrola Generación Nuclear) has 3,177 MW of nuclear power in Spain, distributed among the nuclear assets which correspond to the following ownership and operation structure:

Unit Electric power in MW Iberdrola ownership Operator
Cofrentes External link, opens in new window. 1092 100% Iberdrola Generación Nuclear S.A.U.
Almaraz I 1049 53% Centrales Nucleares Almaraz-Trillo, A.I.E. (CNAT)
Almaraz II 1044 53% Centrales Nucleares Almaraz-Trillo, A.I.E. (CNAT)
Trillo 1066 49% Centrales Nucleares Almaraz-Trillo, A.I.E. (CNAT)
Vandellós II 1087 28% Asociación Nuclear Ascó-Vandellós II, A.I.E. (ANAV)
Ascó II 1027 15% Asociación Nuclear Ascó-Vandellós II, A.I.E. (ANAV)
 

 

Also, Iberdrola has minority stakes in Companies (via Central Maine Power Co.) that manage interim deposit of spent fuel from the three decommissioned “Yankees” Nuclear Power Plants in the US, as shown below:

The Yankees (the three above) are separate and independent for foreign influence or domination. Under NRC regulations, the NRC will not allow a licensee to be owned, controlled, or dominated by a foreign corporation (10 Code of Federal Regulation Section 50.38).  To permit indirect ownership, the NRC has required licensees and/or their shareholders to adopt a Negation Action Plan.The Negation Plan which is already approved by the NRC includes actions at the licensees (the three Yankees above) such as only U.S. citizens as representatives on the Yankee Board of Directors or “exclusion procedures” like no access to security information or no control or influence over licensee safety/security decisions.

U.S.A. Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) stipulates that those who customers benefit from electricity produced by nuclear power plants will pay for the disposal of the used nuclear fuel these plants generate through payments to the federal Nuclear Waste Fund. In return, the U.S.A. federal government has the obligation to remove used nuclear fuel from nuclear plant sites and dispose of this material in a federal repository. Under the NWPA, removal of used fuel to the repository was to have begun in 1998. Electric customers have met their obligation to pay for the removal and disposal of used nuclear fuel, but the federal government has yet to remove any used fuel from plant sites or open facility to receive it. The Yankees (the three above) have prosecuted a claim against the U.S.A. federal government for civil damages and in 2013 successfully recovered costs caused by the failure to remove the spent nuclear fuel. The costs recovered are returned to customers that have paid for disposal. It is unknown when the federal government will fulfil its obligations to remove the used nuclear fuel.

Following Fukushima accident, Iberdrola Generación Nuclear nuclear power plants carried out safety reassessments, known as stress tests, according to WENRA/ENSREG standards, concluding that:

  • Design bases and licensing bases are appropriate and are fully met.
  • Ample margins exit beyond those design bases to cope with extreme natural hazards while maintaining the safety functions.
  • To increase even more those safety margins, some improvements have been identified, which are making our plant more robust against any safety challenge.

Iberdrola Generación Nuclear is a member of or participates with several important international organizations devoted to strive for Excellence in the operation of nuclear power plants, among which are include:

  • WANO, World Association of Nuclear Operators
  • INPO, Institute of Nuclear Power Operations
  • NEI, Nuclear Energy Institute
  • EPRI, Electric Power Research Institute
  • Proprietary groups of respective technologies, Westinghouse, General Electric and Areva