Spain’s Council of Ministers on 23 March authorised the National Radioactive Waste Company (Enresa) to enter into two contracts to manufacture and supply containers for the dry storage of used fuel from the Almaraz, Trillo and Santa María de Garoña nuclear power plants.
 
These two contracts, worth €212.7 million ($231m), will be awarded to the Spanish company Equipos Nucleares (ENSA).

The draft General Radioactive Waste Plan approved last week by the Government does not include a final decision on whether the storage of waste from the Spanish nuclear fleet will be done centrally or be decentralised.

The contracted containers are dual-use and would serve for either option.

The containers will be used when the spent fuel pools at the reactor sites are full.

The first contract, worth €85.1 million, is for the supply of 24 containers to the Almaraz (14) and Trillo (10). The execution period is five years, starting in 2022.

The containers are the same type as ten that were purchased by Enresa in 2015 and that have been approved by the Ministry, following a report from the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN).

The second contract, worth €127.6 million, aims to provide the Garoña plant with 44 containers, also within five years (starting 2023). The containers are of the same type as the five that were acquired by Enresa in 2012 and also authorised by the CSN.