FAQ
What is Enusa?
Enusa Industrias Avanzadas offers its customers latest-generation integral solutions that cover the whole nuclear energy cycle, from fuel manufacturing to the management and supply of enriched uranium, and it also provides engineering services to the nuclear power plants. The company holds a leading position in the European nuclear fuel market.
The company leads pioneering projects for environmental reclamation of the areas where it operates, with the firm commitment to return those areas to the geological and environmental conditions they originally had before the beginning of the industrial and mining activity.
Who are its shareholders?
The company is 60 percent owned by Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI) and 40 percent by the Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT).
Where does the uranium come from? From Spain?
For years, Enusa had its own mining operations but, as of 2001, it stopped producing uranium concentrates in the Saelices el Chico mines (Ciudad Rodrigo, Salamanca). Since then Enusa Industrias Avanzadas supplies itself with uranium from mines around the world, and also from the purchases it makes from well-known intermediaries and vendors.
To secure the uranium supply, the company has a 10 percent strategic share in COMINAK (the Akouta Mining Company), which owns a large uranium mine in the Republic of Niger in western Africa .
Where is it located?
In addition to the central offices in Madrid, Enusa Industrias Avanzadas has two work centers in Juzbado and Saelices el Chico, both located in the province of Salamanca.
What is the activity of the Juzbado, Salamanca center?
Present in the town of Juzbado, in the province of Salamanca , since 1985, the Enusa fuel assembly factory is one of the most innovative in Europe , as it incorporates latest generation technology that optimizes resources and protects the environment. With a staff of 312 employees, the center has a specialized, highly qualified team that covers the entire fuel production cycle: uranium supply and storage, and logistics of the components required for manufacturing, fuel production, product quality control, development of equipment for PWR, BWR and VVER product manufacturing, and management of logistics and distribution to the plants throughout Europe.
What is the activity of the Saelices el Chico center?
In 2000, the mining operations in the old uranium mines of Saelices el Chico (Ciudad Rodrigo) were brought to an end. The reclamation and decommissioning activities of the installations started as of 1 January 2001; these are due to be completed in 2009 and include a monitoring program that will run to 2013.
Does the fuel that Enusa makes require a specific technology?
The nuclear reactors of the Spanish plants to which Enusa supplies fuel (all of them except the Trillo nuclear power plant) are built with technologies of Westinghouse for the so-called pressurized water reactors (PWR) and of General Electric for boiling water reactors (BWR). Therefore, from the very beginning, Enusa signed technology exchange agreements with these two companies for their applications in both engineering and manufacturing of fuel assemblies.
Who are its main customers in Spain?
The company's portfolio of customers has experienced steady growth in recent years. Proof of that are the services it offers, either through the parent company or else through its subsidiary companies, to the leading national and European companies in the energy sector.
In Spain , Enusa supplies its products and services to the Spanish electric utilities that own our country's nuclear power plants. It works with the nuclear power plants of Santa María de Garoña, Cofrentes, Almaraz 1 & 2, Ascó I & II and Vandellós II.
What business does it conduct in other countries?
Enusa's expertise has allowed it to open up new frontiers and develop its business throughout the European continent, where it collaborates closely with the most influential electric utilities. France , Belgium , Germany , Sweden and Finland are some examples of countries where it operates. In addition, the company recently signed a specific ESBWR Master Services Agreement (EMSA) with General Electric Energy that formalizes and strengthens this collaboration for the future.
On the other hand, it is making early contacts with electric utilities and operators in the Eastern European countries, where Enusa hopes to repeat the commercial successes it has achieved in more mature markets.
Enusa is also launching several initiatives for the supply of fuel to North American plants under a supply assurance agreement with Westinghouse Electric Co. In addition, Enusa is conducting engineering studies for the construction and operation of 3 rd Generation reactors, such as the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) in the U.S.
Finally, 2007 has been the year in which Enusa entered Asia , as it set up the Spanish Nuclear Group for China (SNGC) partnership together with ENSA and Tecnatom , for the purpose of marketing its products and services in the Asian market. Primarily thanks to the dynamic sector of in-plant services, this commercial initiative was expected to yield results as early as the second half of 2007.
Where are the Spanish nuclear power plants located?
Spain has a total of 9 nuclear plants: Garoña (in Burgos ), Trillo and Zorita (in Guadalajara ), Cofrentes ( Valencia ), Almaraz I & II (in Cáceres), Ascó I & II and Vandellós II (in Tarragona ). However, this number is not significant in comparison to other countries, if we consider that France has 59 nuclear power plants, Germany 17 and the U.S. 104. Today there is a total of 438 nuclear plants in the world.
Spain began to show an interest in nuclear energy in the late 1940s, when a Committee was created in the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. However, it was not until 1963 that the Nuclear Energy Act was passed and what would be the first Spanish plant was authorized: Almonacid de Zorita, in Guadalajara . This plant, which was renamed José Cabrera, began operating on 14 July 1968 .
Both the first and second generation Spanish nuclear plants are located in the northern half of Spain , since this is the part of the Peninsula with less seismic incidence. They are located in provinces with a low population density but near to large urban and industrial areas with high levels of consumption.
Is nuclear power safe?
The nuclear energy sector is, together with the aeronautical industry, one of the most highly regulated industries. Once the fuel is used, it is cooled in pools and, subsequently, it is placed in concrete casks. A waste repository will be completed before 2010.
The plants normally have three radiation protection barriers: the first is the fuel rod itself (zirconium tubes with the uranium inside). The second is the reactor vessel: a cylindrical carbon steel vessel, covered on the inside with stainless steel, that is some 15 centimeters thick, 18 meters high and almost 5 meters in diameter. On the inside is the reactor core, where the steam that drives the turbine is obtained. The third barrier is the reactor building, a reinforced concrete structure that is one meter thick and 55 meters high (almost a third of those meters underground) and designed to withstand the conditions of the worst possible accident. To this are added the emergency systems, which are actuated if the cooling systems break.
What fields use nuclear power?
Nuclear energy is present in several realms of our daily life. The most well-known is the one that generates a third of the electric power produced in the European Union. However, medicine has also benefited from nuclear technologies, as they are used in the fields of diagnosis, imaging and cancer treatment, as well as to cure certain thyroid, liver and metabolism illnesses, among others. In fact, modern medicine could not be conceived without radiotherapy and radiology for diagnostic purposes.
Is Enusa active in the environment?
The environmental activity of Enusa Industrias Avanzadas, S.A. is structured around three work areas: the restoration of old uranium mining installations, the Technical Environmental Office, and the area of development of waste energy and renewable energy applications . In addition, for its environmental performance, Enusa Industrias Avanzadas has the following AENOR certificates:
- Environmental Management System Standard ISO 14001
- Quality Management System Standard ISO 9001
How are old mining lands reclaimed?
After La Haba Center in the province of Badajoz was closed in 1989, the land affected by the mining operations was restored and the uranium concentrate manufacturing installations were dismantled. After that began a period of monitoring and control to determine the final condition of the site and verify that the restoration goals had been achieved. In 2004, in view of the results of this program, the facility was granted the Decommissioning Declaration. Since then institutional monitoring has been maintained, as provided in current legislation.
The Saelices el Chico Environmental Center is currently in charge of restoring Enusa's old uranium mines in this location in Ciudad Rodrigo. With a budget of 70 million euros, this work will be completed in 2009 and the monitoring program will continue until 2013. The purpose is to recover the original condition of the land affected by exploitation of the area's energy resources.
What is the Technical Environmental Office?
The Technical Environmental Office was created in 2003 out of the Environmental Project Management of Enusa, which in turn was founded in 1997. Since then the Office has increased its volume of business in the four main areas of activity: restoration of land associated with mining activities, construction and closure of waste dumps, radiological protection services, and management of materials and industrial sites with traces of natural radioactivity.
It also collaborates with the Saelices el Chico Environmental Center (Ciudad Rodrigo) in the mining installation decommissioning programs and with the environment-based subsidiaries of the Enusa Group: it develops slope stabilization projects with TECONMA and contaminated soil treatment projects with EMGRISA.
How does Enusa manage wastes and how does it promote renewable energies?
Since 2003, Enusa Industrias Avanzadas S.A. has worked on the development of new energy applications in two fields: W aste Management, and biological-mechanical treatment of urban solid waste (USW). This treatment consists of subjecting the urban solid waste to a biological stabilization and drying process in order to degrade the organic matter contained in it. The resulting materials can be treated, used or handled under more efficient, healthier conditions.
In addition, Enusa Industrias Avanzadas participates in work groups of the “Spanish CO2 Technology Platform”, created in 2006 at the request of the Ministry of Industry in order to coordinate the collaboration of multiple Spanish organizations and enterprises in CO 2 treatment initiatives. Enusa's cooperation focuses on the areas of storage and transport of this gas.
At present, Enusa is also working on the development of photovoltaic solar energy installation projects on different sites.
How many nuclear power plants are there?
In July 2007 there were 440 operating nuclear power plants in 31 countries, which together produce 17% of the electric power consumed in the whole world. Moreover, one of every five homes in Spain is illuminated thanks to the 8 nuclear reactors in operation, which generate a fifth of the electricity that is consumed.
What is the relationship between nuclear power and climate change?
A car usually emits between 150 g and 200 g of CO2 per km driven, whereas nuclear power does not emit CO2 or greenhouse gases. This helps to protect the environment and prevent climate change.
How much energy does a uranium pellet produce?
One uranium pellet is equivalent to the energy provided by 810 kilos of coal, 565 liters of oil, or 480 cubic meters of natural gas.
When was electricity first produced by nuclear energy?
The first time that electricity was produced in a nuclear reactor was on 20 December 1951 in the experimental station of Arco, in the state of Idaho (USA). On 27 June 1954, the world’s first nuclear power plant began to operate in Obnisnks (Russia).
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