Disputes over a venture to revive uranium mining in Spain have been resolved with an agreement that sees Berkeley Resources waive its rights to mine in reserves where Enusa has already begun rehabilitation. In exchange, Berkeley will hold full exploitation rights in other reserves.

Moves to partially revoke an order to close the Garoña nuclear power plant in 2013 have formally begun.

The partners in a joint venture to bring back uranium mining in Spain have entered an arbitration process that could result in the payment of over $200 million in damages from Enusa to Berkeley Resources. The Salamanca 1 project is unaffected and was said to remain on course for construction in 2013.

Capitalising on a more positive political outlook, Spain's nuclear industry group has made the case for longer operating lives for the country's reactors based on commercial and safety imperatives.

Spain's nuclear regulator has ruled that the Garoña nuclear power plant is safe to operate beyond its current licence's arbitrarily imposed expiry date, while Canadian regulators have agreed to a licence extension and restart permission for Point Lepreau following major refurbishment.

Spain's new government will ask nuclear regulators for advice on the continued operation of the Garoña nuclear power plant, which was dealt an arbitrarily short operating licence by the previous administration.

Villar de Cañas has won the right to host a storage facility for Spain's used nuclear fuel and help fill a gap in the country's nuclear power framework.

The environment for Spanish nuclear power appears to be changing with the election of a People's Party government and publication of a study on the country's new-build capabilities.