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NATIONAL REPORTS: SLOVENIA

remediation works at the Jazbec disposal site have been completed and the administrative procedure for the site closure finished in 2015. The responsibility for longterm surveillance and maintenance of the site was transferred to the the Agency for Radioactive Waste Management in 2015.

Uranium requirements

The sole nuclear power plant in Slovenia is based at Krško. It started commercial operation in January 1983 and was modernised in 2000 with replacement steam generators that increased net capacity to 676 MWe. Net capacity was increased in 2006 to 696 MWe with low-pressure turbine replacement and again in 2009 to 698 MWe after modernisation of the turbine control system. The power plant is 50% owned by Slovenia and Croatia.

There has been no significant change in the Slovenian nuclear energy programme in the last few years (2011-2017). One nuclear power plant (Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško) is in operation. Uranium requirements for Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško are relatively stable. The current fuel cycles are 18 months in duration and planned to continue at this cycle basis. In 2012, the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration approved the ageing management programme; a prerequisite for the operation of the Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško beyond 2030 up until the year 2043.

Supply and procurement strategy

The total uranium requirement of Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško per operating cycle remains as reported in 2016. There are no operating or strategic uranium reserves in Slovenia and supply is imported based on requirement contracts.

The current uranium supply contract covers requirements till 2020. The current procurement strategy utilises enriched UF6 supplied to the fuel manufacturer from the uranium supplier when it is required for fuel assembly construction. No physical deliveries of U3O8 or UF6 are made to the Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško site. The manufactured fuel assemblies arrive just before they are used for power production. There are no plans in the foreseeable future to build a uranium stockpile by Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško. The strategy for commercial spent nuclear fuel management currently does not include the use of reprocessed uranium and Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško is not licensed for MOX use.

Uranium policies, uranium stocks and uranium prices

National policies relating to uranium

Slovenia is not a uranium-producing country; uranium stocks are imported for the commercial operation of the nuclear power plant (Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško) as final products (manufactured nuclear fuel assemblies).

Uranium stocks

There is no uranium stock policy in Slovenia. Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško has no uranium stocks or intention to create a uranium stock policy. All required uranium stocks are purchased on a “just-in-time” basis.

Uranium prices

This information is considered confidential.

NATIONAL REPORTS: SLOVENIA

Reasonably assured conventional resources by deposit type

(tonnes U*)

* In situ resources.

Reasonably assured conventional resources by production method

(tonnes U*)

* In situ resources.

Reasonably assured conventional resources by deposit type

(tonnes U*)

* In situ resources.

Inferred conventional resources by deposit type

(tonnes U*)

* In situ resources.

Inferred conventional resources by production method

(tonnes U*)

* In situ resources.

1. Pre-2010 totals may include uranium recovered by heap and in-place leaching.

Net nuclear electricity generation

Installed nuclear generating capacity to 2035

(MWe net)

Note: Low and high values were taken as dependable power and maximum designed net power, respectively.

Annual reactor-related uranium requirements to 2035 (excluding MOX)

(tonnes U)

Note: The Krško nuclear power plant operates 18-month cycles with a fresh fuel load of 224 tonnes of natural uranium equivalent. In some years no uranium supply will be required (e.g. 2015, 2018 and 2021). The values in the table are the average yearly values (i.e. 224 tU x 12/18 = 149 tU). Low and high variability is ±20% from the expected value; this is calculated from maximum change that could occur from a change in fuel assembly design or variation in cycle length (i.e. 12-24 months). The variability shown in some previous reports (2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011) was lower than shown in the 2016 edition, as it was based on observed 18-month cycle-to-cycle differences and may not be a fair representation in such a long timescale prediction. Since 2013, the larger variability has been reported.

NATIONAL REPORTS: SPAIN

Spain

Uranium exploration and mine development

Historical review

Uranium exploration started in 1951 and was carried out by the Junta de Energía Nuclear (JEN). Initial targets were the Hercynian granites of western Spain. In 1957 and 1958, the first occurrences in Precambrian-Cambrian schists were discovered, including the Fe deposit, located in the province of Salamanca. In 1965, exploration of sedimentary rocks began and the Mazarete deposit in Guadalajara province was discovered. In 1972, the Empresa Nacional del Uranio, S.A. (ENUSA) (today ENUSA Industrias Avanzadas, S.A.), a state-owned company, was established to take charge of all the nuclear fuel cycle frontend activities. Its shareholders are the Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI) holding 60% of the capital, and the Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT, previously JEN), holding the remaining 40%. Exploration activities by the ENUSA ended in 1992. Joint venture exploration between ENUSA and other companies continued until the end of 1994. During this period, most of the Spanish territory was surveyed using a variety of methods, adapted to different stages of exploration, and ample airborne and ground radiometric coverage of the most interesting areas was achieved.

Recent and ongoing uranium exploration and mine development activities

Berkeley Energia Ltd has been granted one mining licence in the province of Salamanca covering 2 720 Ha and a total of 25 investigation licences spanning the provinces of Salamanca Cáceres and Badajoz covering a total of 105 762 ha. This company has been actively exploring for uranium for several years, with a focus on a number of historically known uranium projects located within their tenements.

Berkeley’s “Salamanca” Project comprises the Retortillo, Zona 7 and Alameda deposits (in the Salamanca province) and also the Gambuta one (in the Cáceres province), which now accounts, according to that company, for 59.8 Mlb of U3O8 (23 000 tU) in the measured and indicated categories, and an additional 29.5 Mlb of U3O8 (11 350 tU) in the inferred category.

As Zona 7 is located within 10 km of the proposed centralised processing plant at Retortillo, as previously said, it has been integrated with planned development of Retortillo and Alameda, which would increase the production capacity of the project to 4.4 Mlb/yr (1 690 tU) and the life of the project to 14 years.

Uranium resources

Identified conventional resources (reasonably assured and inferred resources)

Total reported identified resources are 89.3 Mlb of U3O8 (34 350 tU), which would include 12.3 Mlb (4 730 tU) in the measured category, 47.5 Mlb (18 270 tU) as indicated, and 29.5 Mlb (11 350 tU) as inferred.

All reported resources are mineable by conventional open pit.

NATIONAL REPORTS: SPAIN

Uranium production

Historical review

Production started in 1959 at the Andújar plant, Jaén province, and continued until 1981. The Don Benito plant, Badajoz province remained in operation from 1983 to 1990. Production at the Fe mine (Salamanca province) started in 1975 with heap leaching (Elefante plant). A new dynamic leaching plant (Quercus) started in 1993 and was shut down in December 2000. The licence for a definitive shutdown of the production, submitted to regulatory authorities in December 2002, was approved in July 2003.

Status of production capability

Mining activities were terminated in December 2000 with the closure of Saelices el Chico uranium mines and production of uranium concentrates ended in November 2002 when the associated Quercus processing plant was shut down. A decommissioning plan was presented to regulatory authorities in 2005. However, due firstly to the need to decommission the former Elefante processing plant and restore mines at the same site before decommissioning Quercus and secondly, a 2009 agreement between ENUSA and Berkeley to complete a feasibility study on the state reserves in the Salamanca province, the decommissioning plan was put on standby. Nevertheless, by September 2015, a new plan for decommissioning was presented to the regulatory authorities that is pending approval.

Ownership structure of the uranium industry

Quercus, the only production facility in Spain, still pending decommissioning, belongs to the company ENUSA Industrias Avanzadas, S.A.

Employment in the uranium industry

Employment at the Fe mine totalled 26 at the end of 2016. All of these workers are dedicated to the mining restoration, surveillance and decommissioning programmes.

Berkeley has between 45-55 employees, depending on the activity being carried out. Berkeley’s activity is focused on the project development of the Salamanca Project, pending several authorisations.

Future production centres

Berkeley Minera España has announced its intention to bring four potential open-pit uranium mines into production: Retortillo-Santidad, Alameda, Zona 7 and Gambuta (the former three in the Salamanca region and the latter in the Cáceres region). Berkeley applied to the competent authority (autonomous regional government) for an exploitation permit for the Retortillo-Santidad mining project in October 2011 and the mining licence was granted in April 2014, once the Environmental Licence was in place and the Nuclear Safety Council informed favourably. Likewise, according to the nuclear regulation, Berkeley requested the site authorisation for the radioactive facility to the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism (former MINETUR, now MINETAD), in March 2012, which was granted by September 2015, after favourable report of the Nuclear Safety Council, allowing Berkeley to request a construction authorisation. The project, according to Berkeley and including only Retortillo, Zona 7 and Alameda deposits, should have an average production of 4.4 Mlbs U3O8/yr (1 690 tU/yr) during a 14-year period of operation.

Secondary sources of uranium

Spain reports mixed oxide fuel and re-enriched tails production and use as zero.

NATIONAL REPORTS: SPAIN

Environmental activities and socio-cultural issues

The present condition of former uranium production facilities in Spain are as follows:

•Fábrica de Uranio de Andújar (Jaén province): Mill and tailings piles have been closed and remediated, with an ongoing ten-year surveillance and control programme (groundwater quality, erosion control, infiltration and radon control). This programme has been extended.

•Mine and plant “LOBO-G” (Badajoz province): The open-pit and mill tailings dump have been closed and remediated, with a surveillance and control programme (groundwater quality, erosion control, infiltration and radon control) in place until 2004. A long-term stewardship and monitoring programme was begun after the declaration of closure.

•Old mines (Andalucía and Extremadura regions): Underground and open-pit mines were restored, with work completed in 2000.

•Two old mines in Salamanca (Valdemascaño and Casillas de Flores) were restored in 2007, following which a surveillance programme was initiated, ending in 2011. Results were evaluated by regulatory authorities and it was determined that an extension of the surveillance period was required.

•Elefante plant (Salamanca province): The decommissioning plan, including industrial facilities and heap leaching piles, was approved by regulatory authorities in January 2001. The plant was dismantled and ore stockpiles were levelled and covered in 2004. A monitoring and control programme has been in place since 2005.

•In 2004, the mining restoration plan of the open-pit exploitation in Saelices el Chico (Salamanca province) was approved by regulatory authorities. Implementation of this plan was finished in 2008 and the proposed surveillance and control programme was sent to regulatory authorities for approval. A monitoring and control programme has been in place since.

•Quercus plant (Salamanca province): Mining activities ended in December 2000 and uranium processing in November 2002. A decommissioning plan was submitted to regulatory authorities in 2005. However, because of the need for the decommissioning of the former Elefante processing plant and for the restoration of some of the mines at the same site before turning to the decommissioning of Quercus – owing to the 2009 agreement between ENUSA and Berkeley – this decommissioning plan was put on standby. By September 2015, a new plan for decommissioning was presented to the regulatory authorities and is still pending of approval. During this time, a surveillance and maintenance programme has been in place for the plant and associated facilities.

Uranium mining regulatory regime

In Spain, the mining regime is regulated by the Mines Act (Act 22/1973), modified by Act 54/1980 and by Royal Decree 2857/1978. The investigation and use of radioactive ores is governed by this act in those areas that are not specifically considered in the Nuclear Energy Act (Act 25/1964), Chapter IV of which deals with the prospecting, investigation and use of radioactive ores, as well as the commercialisation of such ores and their concentrates.

According to Article 2 of the Mines Act, all natural deposits and other geological resources in Spain are assets belonging to the public domain, investigation and use of which may be undertaken directly by the state or assigned in accordance with the rules. Pursuant to Article 1 of Act 54/1980, which amends the Mines Act, radioactive ores are part of Section D, i.e. resources of national energy interest.

NATIONAL REPORTS: SPAIN

Pursuant to Article 19 of the Nuclear Energy Act, the prospecting, investigation and use of radioactive ores and the obtaining of concentrates are declared to be open throughout the entire national territory, except in those areas set aside by the state. Individuals or companies who wish to prospect for radioactive ores are required to request an investigation permit from the state and subsequently, if the existence of one or more resources open to rational exploitation is revealed, to request an exploitation licence. This licence confers the right to exploit the resources and is granted for a 30-year period, extendable by similar periods to a maximum of 90 years. The permits and licences are granted by the autonomous communities, in keeping with the transfer to them of state competences in mining and energy issues, except when the mining activity in question affects several autonomous communities or state reserves in which case the competent authority is the MINETAD (former MINETUR), by virtue of the Mines Act.

The Nuclear Safety Council is the organisation responsible for nuclear safety and radiological protection. In accordance with Article 2 of the act creating the Nuclear Safety Council (Act 15/1980), one of the main competences of the council is to issue reports to the MINETAD on nuclear safety and radiological protection, prior to the resolutions adopted by the latter regarding the granting of authorisations for the operation, restoration or closure of uranium mines and production facilities. These reports are mandatory in all cases and binding when negative in their findings or denying authorisation, or as regards to the conditions established when they are positive.

Regarding restoration plans and financial guarantees for the mining activities, according to the Royal Decree 975/2009 of 12 June on the management of waste resulting from extractive industries and the protection and restoration of the environment affected by mining activities, a restoration plan must be submitted for approval to the mining authority (the autonomous regional government or MINETAD, in the case of those mining activities affecting several autonomous communities or state reserves), the approval of which will be given together with the granting of the exploitation licence. The mining authority will neither grant the licence nor approve the plan unless environmental restoration of the site is guaranteed. To that end, two financial guaranties have to be set up by the company before starting any mining activity, one for the rehabilitation of the environment affected by the exploitation of the ores and the second one for the management of the generated waste, both to comply with the objectives and conditions established in the authorised restoration plan even in the case that the company does not exist at the time of the restoration.

Regarding decommissioning of the associated milling facilities, those are considered, by the Regulation on Nuclear and Radioactive Installations (RINR, approved by Royal Decree 1836/1999 and modified several times afterwards) as radioactive facilities of the nuclear fuel cycle and are subject to previous construction and exploitation licences. An exploitation licence requires the applicant to submit decommissioning and closure forecasts, including, among other things, the final management of the radioactive wastes as well as the economic and financial calculations to guarantee closure of the site. The last amendment of the RINR, by Royal Decree 102/2014, requires the constitution of a financial guarantee before granting this licence.

Uranium requirements

As of 1 May 2017, the net capacity of the seven Spanish nuclear reactors under commercial operation (Almaraz units 1 and 2, Ascó units 1 and 2, Cofrentes, Vandellós 2 and Trillo nuclear power plants) was about 7.1 GWe. No new reactors are expected to be built in the near future. Through 2010 and 2011, the Spanish government approved tenyear licence renewal for Ascó units 1 and 2, Almaraz units 1 and 2, Vandellós unit 2 and the lone Cofrentes unit. In 2014, the Trillo NPP received its renewal for operation until 2024. Accordingly, uranium requirements for the Spanish nuclear fleet in the coming years will foreseeably range from 1 150 to 1 200 tU/yr.

NATIONAL REPORTS: SPAIN

Supply and procurement strategy

All uranium procurement activities are carried out by ENUSA Industrias Avanzadas S.A. on behalf of the Spanish utilities that own the seven nuclear reactors under commercial operation in Spain.

Uranium policies, uranium stocks and uranium prices

National policies relating to uranium

Spain’s uranium import policy provides for diversification of supply. The Spanish legislation leaves uranium exploration and production open to national and foreign companies.

Uranium stocks

Present Spanish regulation provides that a strategic uranium inventory contained in enriched uranium should be held jointly by the utilities that own NPPs. The current stock contains the equivalent of at least 608 tU. Additional inventories could be maintained depending on uranium market conditions.

Uranium exploration and development expenditures and drilling effort – domestic

(USD)

* Non-government.

Reasonably assured conventional resources by deposit type

(tonnes U)

Reasonably assured conventional resources by production method

(tonnes U)

* Pre-2010 totals may include uranium recovered by heap and in-place leaching.

NATIONAL REPORTS: SPAIN

Historical uranium production by processing method

(tonnes U in concentrates)

* Includes mine water treatment and environmental restoration.

Uranium industry employment at existing production centres

(person-years)

Net nuclear electricity generation

Installed nuclear generating capacity to 2035

(MWe net)

Annual reactor-related uranium requirements to 2035 (excluding MOX)

(tonnes U)

Total uranium stocks

(tonnes natural U-equivalent)