Lemóniz Nuclear Power Plant is an unfinished

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...

Lemoiz Lemoiz () is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It has a population of about 1243. It was chosen as the site of the Lemoniz Nuclear Power Plant, but the con ...

, in the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

province of

Bizkaia Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. Biscay is one of the most renowned and prosperou ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Its construction stopped in 1983 when the Spanish nuclear power expansion program was cancelled following a change of government. Its two PWRs, each of 900 MWe, were almost complete but were never operated. Conflict concerning the Lemóniz Nuclear Power Plant was one of the major

anti-nuclear The Anti-nuclear war movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, n ...

issues in the 1970s and 1980s in Spain. It faced major opposition from the Basque anti-nuclear movement and the Basque armed separatist organization

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

ETA response

The building of the power station was opposed by

, a Basque separatist organisation proscribed as a terrorist group by the Spanish government. The first attack on the site took place on 18 December 1977, when an ETA commando unit attacked a

Guardia Civil The Civil Guard (; ) is one of the two national law enforcement agencies of Spain. As a national gendarmerie, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the authority of both the Ministry of the Interior and the Minis ...

post guarding the station. One of the cell members, David Álvarez Peña, was injured in the attack and died a month later. On 17 March 1978, ETA planted a bomb in the reactor of the station, causing the death of two workers (Andrés Guerra and Alberto Negro), and wounded another two. The explosion also caused substantial material damage to the facility, which set back construction. On 3 June 1979, the anti-nuclear activist Gladys del Estal from Donostia died after being hit by a bullet from the police force Guardia Civil during a demonstration in Tudela (

Navarra Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

) on the international day of action against nuclear power. Ten days later, on 13 June, ETA managed to get another bomb into the works on the facility, this time in the turbine area. The explosion caused the death of another worker, Ángel Baños. Meanwhile, numerous demonstrations, activities and festivals attended by thousands were being held across the

southern Basque Country The Southern Basque Country (; ) refers to the Basque territories southside of the Pyrenees, within the Iberian Peninsula. Name In Basque language, known as '' Euskera'', natives have referred to the Basque districts as ''Euskal Herria(k)''. ...

by ecologists and left leaning groups to demand the closure of the station. The escalation of ETA's actions came to a head on 29 January 1981, when they kidnapped the chief engineer of the power station, José María Ryan, from Bilbao. Although a large demonstration was held in Bilbao for the release of the engineer, ETA killed Ryan after a week passed, causing an outcry and the first anti-ETA strike. However, by February 1982, a combination of factors brought construction to a halt. Stumbling blocks included popular doubts over the plant's safety and the interests behind it, ETA's violent action, and differing approaches of the Spanish and Basque autonomous government. In May 1982 ETA assassinated Ángel Pascual, who had taken over the responsibilities from Ryan as chief project engineer. Following the Spanish general election of a

PSOE The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

government, in 1984 a moratorium on new nuclear power plants was put in place for the whole country, affecting Lemóniz as well, which at that point was virtually ready to run.Nuclear Power in Spain, World Nuclear Association
/ref> The moratorium put an official end to the project.

References

External links

WISE News Communique archive
July 21, 1995 ''Spanish banks to assume nuclear debt''.
Nuclear News Country Review: SPAIN (1994)
at the INSC website. {{SpainPlants Unfinished nuclear reactors

Nuclear power stations using pressurized water reactors ETA (separatist group) actions 1978 disasters in Spain Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1978 Terrorist incidents in Spain in the 1970s 1978 crimes in Spain

ETA response

See also

References

External links