Between 200 and 300 people demonstrated on a freezing cold Thursday evening in front of the Spanish consulate in Lisbon against the Almaraz nuclear power plant and its planned nuclear waste dump.
The protest was attended by private citizens, ecologists and politicians from both Portugal and Spain.
"Citizens come here to show that they are against the Almaraz nuclear power plant and want it to be closed as soon as possible," said Nuno Sequeira, the Quercus national director, who reckoned there were "around 200 to 300 people" in the peaceful demonstration.
"It's sad, but there seems to be more concern in Portugal than in Spain," said Alvaro Jaen, of the Spanish political party Podemos.
Today’s ministerial meeting in Madrid about Spain’s plans for Almaraz and Portugal’s opposition ended without agreement, leaving Portugal to file a complaint with Brussels.
See: 'Almaraz - nuclear dump talks with Spain end in deadlock'
The demonstrators called for the closure of the nuclear power plant located 100 kilometers from the Portuguese border on the river Tejo and to halt the construction of a nuclear waste dump that the Spanish authorities already have designed for the site.
André Silva of the People-Animals-Nature party said the Spanish government wants to extend the life of the nuclear power station by ten years to 2030 and can only do so if it has a new deposit for nuclear waste.
"’Close Almaraz’ is the obvious decision. We are faced with a time bomb that can explode at any moment," argues the PAN MP.
One of the protesters considered it "unjust that Portugal has made an effort to invest in renewable energy "and the country now "suffers the consequences of the Spanish government."
Socialist Party MP Helena Roseta said that Portugal has taken a different path from Spain by achieving 60% to 70% of its energy needs from renewables.
"We cannot keep silent," said the MP deputy, considering the stance taken by the Spanish government to be "very serious."
According to António Eloy of the Iberian Antinuclear Movement, the construction of the nuclear dump shows that Almaraz is continuing so Spain’s parliament needs to discuss the closure of its nuclear power plants.
Catarina Martins, of the Left Bloc, said that "it is neither understandable nor acceptable that nuclear power plants can function after the end of their lives."
Comments
Catarina Martins has obviously done her home work.
She should share her findings with the general population, and the public out cry from both Spain
and Portugal should do the rest. There is no known
cure for these plants when things go pear shaped.
Now their genetically identical Spanish cousins are doing it to the Portuguese with nuclear waste !