Industries

LEMONIZ NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

1975 and 1976, in the midst of the world energy crisis and the Spanish political transition, the anti-nuclear opposition managed to stop the Deba and Ea projects while the Navarra Provincial Council rejected the projected location for the Tudela plant. The Commission for the Defense of a Non-Nuclear Basque Coast gathered ranks around the Lemíniz power plant, which in 1976 brought together all the opposition to the project. Both nuclearists and antinuclearists agree in assessing the oil crisis that is strongly affecting the industrial area of P. Vasco, which is very deficient in its own energy, as very serious, and they express their agreement on the need to achieve an increase in energy supply. For some, the nuclear risk is inevitable and must be faced, for others it is necessary to look for alternatives such as solar energy whose emblem ecologists adopt. But, at that moment, with the majority of the population plunged into perplexity, it is the anti-nuclearist opposition that makes itself heard most strongly. On July 3, 1976, the CDCVNN delivered a letter to the Vizcaya Provincial Council signed by 150,000 people, including 230 doctors, seven fishermen's associations, 11 cultural entities, the Official College of Architects, recreational associations and neighbors of the towns bordering the Lemóniz plant. The document condemns the Central Administration and the Biscayan Provincial Council and demands the immediate stoppage of the project and works of the Lemóniz power plant. The first demonstration took place on August 29: a march from Plencia to G rliz of more than 50,000 people under the slogans: For a Non-Nuclear Basque Coast. For public control of our environment. For a public participation in the design of our Town! . Energy consumption and production in the Basque Country. In the book Euskadi o Lemíniz prepared by the Commission for the Defense of a Non-Nuclear Basque Coast, the electric power production capacity is explained according to data from Iberduero, SA, reflected in the press during 1978. Thus, This figure is established at 8,590 million kW/h, when consumption according to the same data and in the year 77 was 11,996 million kW/h. That is, a deficit of 3,406. However, the data offered by the company itself in its document El por qué de la central de Lemíniz for the year 1977 is 3,598 million kW/h produced for 12,080 spent, which means a deficit of 8,482 million kW. /h. As can be seen, in the Lemóniz war, numbers are used in both directions, although in both cases a certain energy deficit is recognized. Four years after the works began, on September 22, 1976, the Mungu a city council received a new from Iberduero ing the granting of a definitive works license for the construction of the power plant, as well as the definitive license of installation and opening. On October 14, thousands of residents of the municipalities of Mungu ay Lemóniz sign a legal document that is delivered to their respective town halls. In it, after an exposition of background and allegations, the residents estimate the declarations that correspond to make to their respective city councils, based on the regulations and current legislation. At the end of 1976 and the beginning of 1977, writings, answers and press conferences followed one another from both parties. The anti-nuclear groups denounce the Biscayan Provincial Council. Iberduero s from the Provincial Urbanism Commission the dispensation of modification of the urban classification of the land. The Official College of Architects, the Gure-Mendi Community of Owners of Lemíniz and the Andra Mari de Munguá Parents' Association present various documents to the Town Planning Commission in which they oppose the made by Iberduero. In the second week of April, administrative proceedings are filed against the municipalities of Leóniz and Mungu a. At the beginning of May 1977, the Commission prepared a report-challenging against the decision of the Diputaci n de Vizcaya that was signed by practically all the communities of Mungu ay Lem niz, and advice from Jos Allende Landa and José Ramón Recalde. On June 18, the Lem niz city council agreed to inform the Diputación unfavorably about the alleged change in qualification ed by Iberduero. On July 14, more than 100,000 people demonstrate in Bilbao for the stoppage of Lemíniz and for a Non-Nuclear Basque Coast. It is considered the largest demonstration in the world. On August 11, the Diputaci nd Vizcaya adopts the following agreement in an extraordinary session: a) Completely dismiss the claims submitted to the file for modification of the General Plan for Urban Planning of the Plencia-Mungu a Region. b) Provisionally approve the modification file consisting of classifying the Basordas environment as industrial and changing the location of the area classified as park. In these months, numerous anti-nuclear committees arise throughout the entire Basque country.