A study from the URV highlights that nuclear energy generates 30,000 jobs

TarragonaNuclear energy satisfies 50.6% of Catalonia's electricity demand and 8.9% of Spain's. This data, on its own, already demonstrates the crucial importance of this energy which has an expiration date. Of the three reactors in Catalonia, the one at Ascó I is scheduled to close on October 1, 2030, Ascó II in 2032, and Vandellòs II in 2035. Proponents of this method for obtaining energy, which does not worsen global warming but does generate radioactive waste, maintain hope of securing an extension, just as happened with the Almaraz nuclear power plant, which was due to close next year, but which, thanks to a ministerial order from the Ministry for Ecological Transition published this August, will remain in operation until at least 2030.

The day before the start of the electoral campaign to choose the Spanish government that will have to make this decision, the Nuclear Association Ascó Vandellòs II (ANAV) presented a study led by the professor of Economics at the Rovira i Virgili University (URV), Maria Llop, which puts on the table the economic benefits that Catalan nuclear power plants bring to the territory. The study concludes that for every euro invested by ANAV, 4.31 are generated, thanks to a "multiplier effect." Llop explained that, in addition to the direct impact that nuclear energy has on GDP and workers, the indirect impact must also be taken into account, as it also provides work for other suppliers.

These two levels of beneficiaries of the economy generated by nuclear power mean that many workers end up spending their wages in the territory (the induced impact), a fact that further increases its effect on GDP. About 900 people work at the nuclear power plants, but the study estimates that the demand and expenditure of the three plants directly generate 9,604 jobs. Based on this, Llop concludes that the total impact of nuclear energy on GDP is 4.498 billion euros. In fact, according to the study, every euro spent by ANAV boosts 3.31 in other industries.

“The dimension is such that it ends up determining a productive specialization” in the territory, Llop explained. If industry accounts for 19% of the Gross Value Added (GVA) of Catalonia, in the Ribera d’Ebre this percentage rises to 71% and in Vandellòs i l’Hospitalet de l’Infant it reaches 80%. As is normal, the surrounding towns are the ones that obtain the most economic benefit from nuclear power. In this sense, the study determines that the GDP of the Ribera d’Ebre is double that of Catalonia, and that of Vandellòs i l’Hospitalet de l’Infant is 3.5 times higher. At the scale of Catalonia, nuclear energy contributes 1.47% of the GDP and generates 0.78% of all jobs.

Llop also highlighted that the study was carried out taking into account the 2020 to 2025 periods, so “it is the analysis of a trajectory”, much more reliable than if it were only for one period. The data also demonstrate that this economic benefit is very stable over the years.