In Madrid the Environmental group Greenpeace said that they taken legal action against the government and the nuclear regulator for unnecessary delays in setting up a panel on nuclear safety with public participation.

A statement of Greenpeace mentions that legislation provided for the Nuclear Safety Advisory Committee to be constituted by August 2008 in order to issue non-obligatory recommendations to the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) watchdog.

The committee will be consist of almost 20 people that will be having the representatives fro central and local government, utilities, unions, environmental groups and technical experts.

Greenpeace spokesman Carlos Bravo stated that having delay over the creation of the Advisory Committee is because the industry minister and the president of the CSN in fact had prevented the environmental groups from getting relevant first-hand information on safety problems.

Greenpeace want more information over a CSN authoritative pronouncement in June that favored allowing the aging Garona nuclear plant to run for another ten years. But according to environmentalists Garona had not implemented some the CSN’s prior recommendations.

The government decided to renew Garona’s operating permit for four years, which drew an appeal from the plant’s operators who want to run it until 2019 at least.

Greenpeace also charges the watchdog for its delayed action over a radioactive leak last year at the Asco I nuclear power station.

In May Asco’s operators were fined 15.4 million euros by the government for breaching safety rules.

Spain is having eight nuclear power plants that provide almost 20% of the country’s electricity and the government has vowed to phase them out in favor of booming renewable energy sources.

Anyhow the Spanish government is not having any plans to close any other nuclear plants in future aside from Garona rest of the plants are having some years to complete their life spans because they were designed for until 2020.

In Spain nuclear power is unpopular that’s why both major parties ruled out building new reactors in elections last year. But the opposition Popular Party has said that they will keep open Garona till 2013 if they got back into power.

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