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You can change your cookie settings at any time Freedom of Information releases and corporate reports The true extent of the 29 October floods on the Spanish regions of Valencia and Andalucia did not become immediately apparent but the flood waters caused the death of over 230 people and was one of the deadliest natural disasters in Spanish history On what became one of the most devastating weeks in history for Valencia and Andalucia 4 CoRWM members travelled to Andalucia to visit the El Cabril low and intermediate level nuclear waste disposal facility These sobering statistics added a pertinence to our visit Flooding events and ‘extreme’ weather – the torrential rain in Spain on 29 October brought a years’ worth of precipitation in a single day– are increasing in frequency and highlight the pressing need for robust zero carbon energy systems that can sustain our energy needs without causing environmental and human disaster This contextual framing of our visit to the nuclear waste disposal site at El Cabril is important We need to securely dispose of our nuclear waste without leaving a burden for future generations Disposal must be safe in the short and long term from environmental change This becomes increasingly pertinent if we are to use nuclear in a portfolio of energy choices to meet out net zero targets CoRWM were welcomed to Spain and the El Cabril site by Nuria Prieto Serrano from ENRESA (Empresa Nacional de Residuos Radiactivos S.A.) Nuria is Senior Technician working in the department of International Co-operation and Research and Development at ENRESA She is a philologist and lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in radioactive waste management and was an excellent guide and source of knowledge We started our visit by sharing information on the countries respective nuclear waste disposal strategies and current progress Spain is currently decommissioning all their nuclear energy plants in the wake of a decision to discontinue nuclear energy production. Wastes described as very low, low and intermediate level wastes, in the Spanish categorisation of radioactive waste as described on the ENRESA website These wastes are similar to low and intermediate level wastes in the UK but high-level wastes and some special wastes will need to be disposed of in a geological facility the process of designing and delivering a geological disposal facility is now starting in Spain Penny Harvey (CoRWM Deputy Chair) spoke about the work of CoRWM and CoRWM’s role in the management and disposal of nuclear wastes in the UK The role of a body such as CoRWM was of interest to ENRESA as Spain progresses towards developing its strategy for and delivery of a deep geological disposal facility Visitors centre displays showing the site layout (left) and canister types (right) El Cabril is on a former uranium mine and it is this legacy that led to the first wastes being stored here they appear like a row of little white teeth in the landscape evidence of the complex nature of human involvement on the site and the ties between geology Nuria describes how a future siting of a deep geological disposal facility would be open and transparent with community engagement in the process We reflect on the importance of the community engagement process in the UK and the time and effort it takes to do it well and to gain trust and respect combined with the geology and other logistics all need to come together to create the right environment for a geological disposal facility time was short and there was much to discuss and see We had a quick tour of the visitor’s centre which receives a staggering c.3,000 visitors/year; despite being many hours’ drive from any centre of major population clear and informative space with great views out onto the site which affords fabulous views across the rolling Spanish countryside in which the El Cabril site is embedded a security post; but not focused on risks such as terrorism threats that might first come to mind as a UK citizen The watch tower’s main function is fire watch as forest fire is deemed the biggest risk to site safety and there are helicopter pads and reservoirs built into the landscape ready for firefighting This simple fact provokes thoughts of climate change shifting weather patterns and the increased frequency of extreme events Much of Spain had temperatures over 40 degrees in the summer of 2024 Risks to infrastructure are changing as weather patterns destabilise In a region where fire is the highest risk to a nuclear waste disposal site but has also just seen the worst floods in its history managing waste carefully and predicting future scenarios is a must The view from the Watch Tower across the El Cabril site (left) and the Handling and Operations area (right) The central operations room provided an insight into the control systems and monitoring Viewed through a one-way window that cleverly can be come two-way if the operators allow we glimpsed the complexities of the monitoring and evaluation systems Here we also learnt the operational workflow from delivery of waste at the site through to disposal with graphics and text combined with real site photography We also saw the transportation truck systems that bring waste to the site from different nuclear operators Despite being only 4 members from CoRWM we brought expertise in siting and engagement The fluid draining and sampling pipes beneath the El Cabril low and intermediate level waste vaults (left) and Nuria Prieto Serrano explaining the fluid sampling system (right) The highlight was the disposal vaults themselves we were taken into the passageways below the completed low and intermediate level waste vaults to see the water sampling and analysis system Although dry the system and monitoring is designed so that any fluid collected in the base of the silos can be drained and tested The system allows testing of fluid from individual silos so that any issues can be isolated Above ground large tents cover the operational very low-level waste disposal sites and layers of waste and barriers are stacked up to create the stores within each concrete silo It is possible to walk out on top of these very low-level wastes and to see the waste and back-fill up close Eventually the disposal areas will be landscaped The tops of the rolling hills were removed to create the disposal areas and these will be recreated when the vaults are full always framed in the human timescale and often within a single generation or two rather than anything close to geological (millions and billions of years) or even timescales of some radioactive decay (tens of thousands of years) The Valencia floods and the environmental and human disaster that ensued signal potentially rapid change on relatively short (human) timescales We will need to learn to adapt and be resilient Sharing best practice and understanding internationally is key learning from each other’s challenges and solutions The timescales are both long and short and change is inevitable as we navigate our way to optimal nuclear waste disposal solutions With special thanks to Nuria Prieto Serrano Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details in compliance with the provisions of the 6th General Radioactive Waste Plan Spanish decommissioning and waste management firm Enresa presented to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) and the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) the documentation to begin the procedures for the request for the construction of new storage cells at El Cabril Enresa intends the Southeast Platform of El Cabril to comprise 27 storage cells The new cells will cover a total area of 362.3 metres by 103.4 metres The construction of the Southeast Platform will be carried out in two phases The remaining 15 cells will be built in subsequent actions according to storage needs The General Directorate of Quality and Environmental Assessment of MITECO has now published the Environmental Impact Statement for the construction of the new storage cells in the Official State Gazette has obtained the Environmental Impact Declaration," Enresa noted "This is a step prior to construction for which a favourable opinion from the CSN and construction authorisation from MITECO are still necessary." El Cabril is Spain's national disposal facility for very low low and intermediate-level radioactive waste Low and intermediate-level waste arrives at El Cabril in specialised transports and it is unloaded in the conditioning area or in one of the interim storage areas. Most of the waste research centres or industry is treated and placed in the installations at El Cabril. The packages received are left in concrete casks it is immobilised by means of injected mortar This block is deposited in the disposal vault Spain’s El Cabril storage centre at Sierra Albarrana in Córdoba province received 2,129.30 cubic metres of very low and low and medium activity radioactive waste during 2022 Radioactive waste management agency Empresa Nacional de Residuos Radiactivos SA (Enresa) said the wastes arrived in 213 expeditions: 173 from nuclear facilities and 40 from radioactive facilities Spain’s El Cabril storage centre at Sierra Albarrana in Córdoba province received 2,129.30 cubic metres of very low and low and medium activity radioactive waste during 2022 2,108.85 cubic metres came from nuclear facilities and 20.45 cubic metres from radioactive facilities 87.31% of the waste received in 2022 was very low activity residues (RBBA) and 12.68 % was low & medium activity residues (RBMA) The total volume stored as of 31 December 2022 amounted to 59,206.46 cubic metres Storage platforms for RBMA were at 82.11% of their capacity In the complementary installation for RBBA two storage cells of the four authorised have been built which were at 25.09% and 24.81% of their respective capacities fauna and vegetation were taken as part of the Environmental Radiological Surveillance Plan These were analysed in independent laboratories and certified El Cabril had no radiological impact on the environment Image: Concrete containers containing radioactive waste at the El Cabril storage centre (courtesy of Enresa) Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights View all newsletters from across the Progressive Media network © Business Trade Media International Limited Cabral produced some of Sonoma's finest Pinot Noirs Plus: Putting the "Whisper" in WhisperKool 1972) to name but a (very) few of the best in Napa and Sonoma The quality of the wine on that day was uniformly strong Where will he land next? I’m not sure, though he told Spectator’s Tim Fish that he has “a lot of ideas running around” in his head and that  he can definitely see himself making his own wine ALSO SEE: First Look CabFestNV: Napa holds first ever celebration of the king of grapes State of the Wine Industry in 60 Seconds Wine Report: Fine wine market expected to grow 6-10% in 2014 (Plus more predictions) Wine Movers and Shakers (Top 5) CULTURE LIFESTYLE FILMMAKING/TECH ATELIER STARK FILMS The Fire Department responded to 46 calls about the storm that descended upon Catalonia overnight.  Most of the incidents came from the metropolitan area and coastal region around Barcelona.  The most notable incident was the flooding of the N-2 highway in Santa Susanna. Emergency services received warning at 3.46 am and activated four crews as the road was completely flooded.  Civil Protection reported that due to the flood, the road was closed and a detour was been activated, while other roads were cut for a brief period because of landslides, but the situations have since been solved. Most of the calls to firefighters were because of flooding in homes or leaks.  According to the Fire Department, homes in Arenys de Mar, Premià de Mar, Cornellà, El Masnou, and Cabrera were attended to, but no injuries were reported.  The 112 emergency telephone has received a total of 75 calls, with the majority in the Barcelonès county.  The bulk of this morning's intense rains passed without any major incidents.  Some trees in the Catalan capital also fell, while there were reports of power outages in the city also.  During the night several storms hit the central coast and the Maresme county saw the most intense extreme weather.  According to data from Meteocat and Civil Protection, in Teià, 88.7 mm of rainfall was recorded.  Between 8 pm on Tuesday and the early hours of Wednesday, the Cabrils station accumulated 73.7 mm, the Prat de Llobregat station saw 58.1 mm, Barcelona's port station saw 42.2 mm, while Barcelona's Raval station recorded 33.4 mm.  On the contrary, there are stations, such as the Fabra Observatory in Barcelona, which did not record any rain. Get the day's biggest stories right to your phone Floating solar panels will be installed on six of them in the future to produce even more green energy for the country You can use our filter to find relevant topics Alternatively our search function or the overview of articles can help you out An ever-growing number of floating solar farms is being built in Europe. After all, unused real estate is valuable, and the price of this technology is on the decline. For now this development has reached its high point Portugal’s first national floating PV module auction fetched negative bids this past April breaking the record for the lowest price in this segment What this means is that the energy companies will actually pay to generate electricity instead of receiving a subsidy these bids must be viewed against the backdrop of extremely high prices on energy exchanges the war in Ukraine is driving fossil fuel and electricity prices up to all-time highs Portugal has again proven to be hallowed ground for solar power The country set the record for the lowest price of ground-mounted solar energy back in 2020 As reported by the en:former, Portugal possesses major potential in the renewables business The country is investing heavily above all in solar and wind in its quest to become carbon-neutral by 2050 Take solar for example: Whereas the country had just over a gigawatt (GW) of installed capacity by 2020 Germany’s RWE recently announced the construction of a 40-megawatt (MW) ground-mounted solar farm on domestic soil The facility is scheduled to become operational in 2023 The floating solar projects accounting for some 183 MW awarded in April will contribute to the energy transition November 2021 saw Portugal’s Directorate General for Energy and Geology (DGEG) hold the country’s first floating solar auction The call for bids was for seven projects with a maximum total capacity of 263 MW which can be implemented on seven dam reservoirs These seven artificial lakes only represent part of Portugal’s hydropower capacity A total of 17 hydroelectric power stations with an aggregate capacity in excess of 7 GW make up a larger portion of the country’s energy mix especially in the rainy winter months Three further hydropower plants on the Tamega and Torno rivers are under construction Only the location at the Castelo de Bode dam reservoir for which tenders were invited for projects maxing out at 50 MW just a single bid was submitted for this lot without an agreement being reached with the bidder All of the other projects will match the auctioned capacities: Cabril (33 MW) Salamonde (8 MW) and Vilar-Tabuaço (17 MW) a combined 183 MW were awarded in the tender procedure Two of the auctioned projects were awarded via a 15-year contract for difference (CfD) Energy company EDPR placed a record bid of minus 4.13 euros for Alqueva A negative tender means that the company will pay about four euros in compensation for every megawatt hour (MWh) its farm generates over the established 15-year period The 33 MW project at the Cabril dam reservoir was awarded to France-based Voltalia for a tender offer of 41.03 euros The plant is scheduled to be commissioned by 2026 Most of the other projects were awarded under the national power grid compensatory scheme the network operator receives a fixed grid connection fee for every MW of power produced by the projects The average sum per megawatt hour and year is 47,700 euros A winner alongside EDPR was Endesa Portugal landing the third-largest project (42.5 MW) The planned floating solar farm is expected to go online as soon as 2023 and by coupled to a wind farm and a battery storage system Portugal-based Finerge secured three of the auctioned projects: Paradela Another reason why companies are willing to pay to generate electricity besides the high prices on energy exchanges is quite simple: guaranteed grid connections Low availability as well as complicated and long-winded approval processes in Portugal make it difficult for power generation asset developers to drive their projects projects are ensured a fixed grid connection capacity granted network capacity exceeds project capacity This enables the winning companies to implement additional renewables projects using the same grid connection EDPR claims the company is expecting enough grid connection capacity for 154 MW of green energy only 70 MW of which is covered by the floating solar farm EDPR intends to use the remaining 84 MW for a hybrid system consisting of 14 MW of PV and 70 MW of wind output Another factor that makes the invitations to tender attractive is the period for which the grid connections are guaranteed Although the auction contracts have a term of 15 years the DGEG awards the winning companies grid capacities for 30 years on completion of the 15-year contractual term every company has another 15 years to continue generating electricity at normal market conditions We encounter energy everywhere – at home, on the street, in the office and on the workbench. But what exactly is energy? How and from what is it made? How is it stored, transported and converted? The questions abound, answers to which are provided by this blog – exciting, snappy and always up to date. Learn more This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page reportedly helped him hide his affair with Clara Chia Marti from his then-partner Shakira A Spanish media outlet revealed that the former Barcelona player and the 23-year-old PR student were living in one of his parents’ homes and Montserrat did not tell the Waka Waka singer about it “Everything is because when the relationship between Piqué and Clara Chía began they took refuge in a house that Piqué’s parents have in Cabrils (Spain)” “While Shakira cried on her mother-in-law’s shoulder she was an accomplice in hiding this new relationship,” she added as per Essentially Sports This comes after it was revealed that Shakira has built a wall between her and Gerard’s parents’ home Several reports even claimed that the Colombian singer placed a witch mannequin in her balcony in the aftermath of her breakup from Gerard allegedly teasing Montserrat It was said that Shakira’s relationship with Gerard’s parents turned sour after she saw them spending time with Clara right after her breakup with him It has also been alleged that the singer asked her sons Jackie shared a carousel of cheerful snaps from the festivities Nicola Peltz pens heartfelt note amid family celebration drama The youngest son of the Prince and Princess of Wales stole hearts with his antics at the VE Day processions Kelsey Grammer visits the site of his sister’s tragic death The 11-year-old young royal took part in the special tea festivity Jenna Ortega's 'Wednesday' season 2 has been teased by the makers Copyright © 2025. The News International, All Rights Reserved | Contact Us | Authors its location appealed to the city council to convert it into a cultural center with multi-family housing but the idea quickly became infeasible with the amount of space available bar and meeting rooms on the ground floor and residences above part of the demolished factory was left intact in one of the facades as homage to its historical origins image © andres flajszer (also main image) | all images courtesy of batlle i roig arquitectes view from courtyard image © andres flajszer middle space between housing block and mansion image © andres flajszer (left) ceramic planters present throughout the exterior spaces (right) a portion of the original factory’s facade is preserved image © andres flajszer corner entry image © andres flajszer perforated metal shutters image © andres flajszer housing block and mansion image © andres flajszer approach from a park image © andres flajszer AXOR presents three bathroom concepts that are not merely places of function but destinations in themselves — sanctuaries of style The Sierra Albarrana (El Cabril) solid radioactive waste disposal facility is located in the province of Cordoba in the foothills of the Sierra Albarrana El Cabril is a nuclear facility with an operating permit granted by Order of the Ministry of Economy on 5th October 2001 enabling it to store low- and medium-level radioactive waste A resolution from the Directorate General for Energy Policy and Mines on 21st July 2008 authorized the modification of the design of the facility to include disposal cells specifically designed to store very low-level radioactive waste while setting new limits and conditions for nuclear safety and radiological protection associated with the operating permit the low- and medium-level radioactive waste generated by nuclear and radioactive facilities throughout Spain is received The waste is placed in concrete matrixes within drums which are then placed in concrete  containers and immobilized with concrete The containers are located in 28 disposal cells located on two platforms they will be covered with layers of soil and clay to isolate them from the biosphere and integrate them into the landscape The very low-level radioactive waste is stored in a third platform authorized as a design modification in 2008 which includes four cells which  will progressively be built For further information, please visit the ENRESA (National Radioactive Waste Company  S.A.) web site The savage terrorist attacks in Spain which killed 15 people – including two boys aged three and seven – and injured over 130 in Barcelona and Cabrils is yet another reminder of the constant threat Europe faces from fanatics inspired by the so-called Islamic State Thirteen people died when a van drove into crowds on Las Ramblas in Barcelona; hours later one person was killed by a car in Cambrils a coastal town 120km to the south of the Catalan capital and another person was stabbed to death in a car outside Barcelona by a 22-year-old Moroccan shortly after he had carried out the atrocity at Las Ramblas The Barcelona massacre joins an ever-growing list of devastating vehicle attacks – such as in Nice Stockholm and London – which are unfortunately so easy to carry out and so difficult to prevent we can expect such attacks to continue in Europe for the foreseeable future since Islamic State is on the brink of being defeated in Iraq and Syria That Barcelona was attacked is not particularly surprising; the security services have been on high alert for years and the city’s metro was the target of a foiled plot in 2008 open character make it an obvious terrorist target as does the fact that it is such a popular tourist destination and many people from all parts of the world can easily identify with it the victims of this latest act of terrorism were of many different nationalities And we must remember that Spain had already suffered a horrendous jihadist act of terrorism – the bombings that killed 191 people at Madrid’s Atocha station in 2004 The people behind the Barcelona van attack were a 12-man Moroccan terrorist cell who had planned – apparently for months – to use explosives against monuments including the city’s famous Sagrada Familia church things went wrong when a house packed with bomb-making equipment blew up the day before in the town of Alcanar Among the rubble of the house 100 gas cylinders were found which were likely going to be used in the originally planned attack Why was Imam Abdelbaki Es Satty able to radicalise the Barcelona terrorists without being detected Six of the terrorists were later shot dead by the police: five after the Cambrils attack and the sixth four days after he carried out the Las Ramblas massacre The surviving four members of the terror cell have already been taken to court where one of the jihadists confirmed that the group had indeed planned an even bigger attack in Barcelona and how can Europe deal with this latest scourge of terrorism First of all we must understand that this was not just an attack on Spain they want us to turn on the Muslim populations in Europe and they want to end multicultural cosmopolitanism the Barcelona attack shows that it is a myth that only those countries directly involved in the military fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria will be targeted by the terrorists where a Moroccan stabbed two people to death in the city of Turku the day after the Ramblas attack Spain is simply another Western civilisation which its warped mentality considers to be a legitimate target so the fanatical jihadists consider it to be occupied by ‘infidels’ We must not fall into the terrorists’ trap by cracking down unnecessarily on Muslims or curbing civil liberties What is needed is increased intelligence and surveillance work more police co-operation on a national level (in Spain’s case questions have been raised about poor collaboration between Catalonia and Madrid) as well as on a European level – a European FBI should be set up as a first step a thorough review of security surrounding tourist and commercial centres as well as sporting entertainment and political events is essential there should be increased co-operation between the police and Muslim communities as ultimately it is the jihadists’ families neighbours and friends who can pass on vital information to the authorities should they suspect their relatives of becoming radicalised Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was spot on when he said in the aftermath of the Ramblas attack: “The way to beat terrorists is with institutional unity international support and the firm determination to defend the values of our civilisation: democracy defending our democracy and freedom does not mean we shouldn’t resort to stricter measures in dealing with potential terrorists or jihadists was  Abdelbaki Es Satty – an imam in Ripoll a small town in Catalonia where nearly all the terror cell members lived for the last two years – able to radicalise the Barcelona terrorists without being detected Why was this imam allowed to preach despite having a conviction for drug smuggling And why was nothing done about the fact that he was suspected of recruiting local youths to fight for Islamic State and had links with jihadists going back more than a decade should never have been allowed to practise as an imam and should have been under constant surveillance He should also have been expelled to his native Morocco but incredibly an order for his expulsion from Spain upon release from prison was overturned by a judge in 2015 who said he had shown “employment and an effort to integrate” questions must be asked about how the 12 members of the terror cell were never suspected of being jihadists which implies that the police needs to improve its links with the Muslim community As we combat terrorism we need to offset the need for more police action and intelligence work with the fact that we want to continue living in free and tolerant societies which respect minorities and guarantee civil liberties please register for free or log in to your account and Shakira’s ex-mother-in-law Montserrat Bernabeu Shakira and Pique’s mother has always had a contentious relationship There has always been friction between them It only increased after the break-up and when the Latin singer decided to release her diss track directed at Pique which explains why Shakira hates Pique’s mother According to a Spanish media outlet it has been reported that Bernabeu also had a hand in hiding Pique and his new girlfriend Dive Deeper: “Made an Economic Offer” – Gerard Pique’s Ex Shakira Plans to Sell $15.9 Million Beach House for a Private Island to Stay Away From Paparazzis she was an accomplice in hiding this new relationship” with her son Sasha Pique prior the spanish liga match between FC Barcelona and Valencia CF at Camp Nou on April 18 (Photo by Miquel Llop/NurPhoto) (Photo by NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Shakira coloca bruxa ainda mais assustadora na varanda de sua mansão com os quais ela não mantém uma boa relação pic.twitter.com/fqnauf8VyR — José Norberto Flesch (@jnflesch) March 9, 2023 the doll was returned to its previous spot – only this time bigger and scarier It appears that Shakira isn’t ready to move on from the breakup and has still not forgiven her ex-family WATCH THIS STORY: Despite Being Only 5% as Rich as Michael Jordan Lionel Messi Once Spent More Money on a Car Than MJ Ever Earned in a Single Active NBA Season What are your thoughts on this huge revelation? 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