In Almaraz, concern over the planned closure of Spain's largest nuclear power plant

In the small Spanish village of Almaraz, residents fear a "disaster": the government must decide before the fall on the fate of the largest nuclear power plant in Spain, whose closure, scheduled for 2028, could however be postponed, as the site's shareholders are now demanding.

One year after the impressive power outage that affected the Iberian Peninsula, while conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are disrupting global energy supplies, the future of Almaraz, which provides 7% of national electricity demand, is on everyone's minds.

“It’s sad that they want to close it,” laments José Antonio Morgado, seated in the main restaurant of this village of 1,500 souls in Extremadura (west).

At 59 years old, this mechanic has been hired every year since 1989 for several months for the delicate operations of refueling the two reactors. The key for him is hundreds of contract workers who are then added to the 800 permanent employees of the site, salaries which can reach "up to 6,000 euros per month".

Very significant revenues in a disadvantaged region, and likely to disappear with the planned closure of reactor No. 1 in 2027 then No. 2 in 2028, announced by the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in 2019, At the time with the agreement of the site's shareholders, three private groups who are now campaigning to extend the activity of the plant until 2030.

- "Desert" -

The restaurant where José Antonio Morgado lunches welcomes several dozen employees of the nuclear site every day. Opened in the 1980s at the same time as the power station, at the height of the nuclear craze in Spain, it is today managed by David Martín, 32, who took over the establishment created by his parents.

The thirty-year-old estimates that 250 to 260 meals are served daily during reloading operations, and 70 to 80 in normal times. Without the workers at the plant, this figure would drop, according to him, to 40 to 50 meals served each day, which would force him to part ways with half of his 12 employees.

“It would be a desert here,” he warns.

To carry out this fight, a citizen collective “SÃ a Almaraz, SÃ al Futuro” (“Yes to Almaraz, Yes to the Future”) was formed at the beginning of 2025. At its head, Fernando Sánchez Castilla, employed at the power plant for more than 15 years and mayor of a neighboring town.

"Dozens of municipalities are condemned to disappear" in the event of closure, he fears, referring to "the region's leading industry", representing 5% of the GDP of the Extremadura region and 4,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Below the village sits the power station itself, which AFP journalists were able to visit.

An imposing building houses the turbines connected to the two reactors, whose white domes immediately catch the eye. HAS