Why a Spanish nuclear power plant you’ve never heard of should give you climate optimism
We have some big news from Spain: the government has approved the extension of both reactors at the Almaraz nuclear power plant until June 2030. The decision means Almaraz can continue producing reliable, low-carbon electricity for more than two years beyond its previously planned closure dates of 2027 and 2028.
Almaraz was set to become the first Spanish nuclear power plant to close under the country’s plan to phase out all its reactors by 2035. Instead, the government has given both reactors more time to operate — a decision that marks an important change in the direction of Spain’s nuclear policy.
For the campaign to defend Almaraz, this is a major victory. It shows that nuclear phase-outs are not inevitable, and that sustained public and political pressure can change the course of energy policy.
How we got here
Over the past year, WePlanet’s campaign in Spain has worked with supporters and allies to make the case for keeping Almaraz open. We:
Mobilised people to contact the Spanish government and sign and share petitions calling for Almaraz to remain open;
Published a manifesto on World Environment Day, calling for nuclear energy to remain part of Spain’s green transition and generating coverage across several Spanish media outlets;
Made sure pro-nuclear voices were heard in the government’s Just Transition consultation;
Joined local mobilisations in Almaraz and visited the nuclear power plant.
Together, those actions helped build the public and political pressure around Almaraz, and that pressure mattered. The government’s decision to extend the reactors is a concrete result of a campaign that refused to accept their closure as inevitable.
That makes this a victory for the broad coalition that has been making the case for Almaraz: workers, local communities, experts, grassroots organisations and campaigners in Spain and beyond. It shows what can happen when different voices come together around a clear, evidence-based case for keeping nuclear power open.
And there is a bigger lesson here. Political decisions can change. Policies that once seemed inevitable can be challenged, and governments can change course when the pressure to do so becomes impossible to ignore.
Why Almaraz matters beyond Spain
The Almaraz decision is bigger than one power plant.
Across Europe, governments are increasingly recognising that nuclear energy has a role to play in a low-carbon energy system. Nuclear power has a place in the EU’s green taxonomy, while Belgium has reversed its nuclear phase-out. These developments show that policies once treated as inevitable can be changed when the evidence and political reality change.
Almaraz is another example. The argument for keeping an existing nuclear plant open is not complicated: if a plant is producing large amounts of low-carbon electricity reliably, closing it should require a good reason. “We’ll close it because we said we would” is not an energy policy. The climate crisis, energy security and the need for reliable electricity do not disappear because a closure date has been written into a policy document.
But the fight isn't over
There is still a long way to go. Spain’s other five reactors remain scheduled to close between 2030 and 2035. Around the world, existing nuclear plants remain under threat, new projects face political opposition, and clean-energy policies continue to be shaped by outdated fears about nuclear power.
So the Almaraz decision is not the end of the campaign. We need to keep mobilising supporters, backing local campaigners and taking the evidence directly to decision-makers. We need to keep challenging the idea that closing nuclear plants is somehow an inevitable part of the green transition.
And we need to keep showing what is possible when people organise around evidence and refuse to accept bad energy policy as inevitable.
Almaraz was supposed to be the first Spanish nuclear plant to close. It isn’t anymore.
That is a victory worth celebrating.
And it is a reason to keep fighting.