Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant advances new waste storage facility

The Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant is nearing the final stages of constructing its second Individualized Temporary Storage (ATI) facility. This infrastructure is designed to house high-level radioactive waste, primarily spent fuel from the plant's two reactors.

Project officials report that construction is approximately 80% complete, with work currently focused on primary structures including concrete slabs and storage buildings. This new facility, known as ATI-100, is intended to provide enough capacity to accommodate all uranium elements used throughout the plant's estimated operational life, offering six times the capacity of the existing ATI-20 facility, which is currently at 100% occupancy.

The decision to build individual storage facilities at nuclear sites follows the cancellation of a centralized temporary storage project previously planned for Villar de Cañas. These individual sites will hold waste for several decades until a permanent deep geological repository is established.