Financial system
Enresa, apart from working on the technical aspects of radioactive waste management, administers the economic resources in order to finance all its activities.
A specific system of financing cost to manage radioactive waste has been established regardless of the State’s General Budget with the aim of avoiding high costs in radioactive waste management and dismantling of nuclear facilities.
Following the adoption of the amendment to Additional Provision 6 of Law 54/1997, the Electricity Industry Act, by means of the enactment of Law 11/2009 of 26 October regulating Public Limited Companies quoted on the Property Market, four non-tax public patrimonial benefits were established:
The first benefit covers the costs related to the management of the radioactive waste and spent fuel generated at nuclear power plants that were definitively shut down prior to 1 January 2010, including their dismantling and decommissioning costs, and future costs that were not anticipated during the operation of nuclear power plants or fuel assembly manufacturing facilities which have been definitively shut down, as well as any shortfall in funding that might arise as a result of the shutdown of a facility prior to the time set out in the General Radioactive Waste Plan for reasons beyond the licensee's control. If this type of shutdown should occur by decision of the licensee, they must cover the corresponding sum.
A benefit on each kilowatt hour generated from nuclear energy is levied to cover the costs arising from the management of radioactive waste produced by nuclear power plants and their dismantling.
Costs arising from the management of radioactive waste from the manufacture of fuel assemblies, such as at the Juzbado fuel assembly manufacturing facility in Salamanca, are funded through the payment of a further benefit on each fuel assembly made.
Costs arising from Enresa’s management of radioactive waste from other facilities, such as hospitals or laboratories, are covered by the payment of another benefit by the waste producers on collection of the waste.
All these benefits may be revised annually, by means of a Royal Decree, with an updated financial report on the cost of the corresponding activities set out in the General Radioactive Waste Plan.
Fund for the financing of activities included in the General Radioactive Waste Plan
With this financing model, there is a significant time lag between the raising of resources and their final implementation. For this reason, due to the difference between Enresa’s income and expenditure, the Fund for the financing of activities included in the General Radioactive Waste Plan is established.
This Fund also draws on financial yields obtained from the management of temporary financial investments held by the Fund.
The Fund is primarily constituted of a portfolio of temporary financial investments. This portfolio and its yields are assigned to the financing of the management of radioactive waste.
In accordance with Royal Decree 102/2014 of 21 February on the responsible and safe management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, the management of financial assets in which the Fund can invest must guarantee absolute security, an adequate return and sufficient availability.
Consequently, the guiding principles of the management strategy for the Fund’s financial investments are as follows:
Security
Credit risk protection, intermediation and safe-keeping, by means of rigorous selection of the entities to whom resources are allocated and entities operating in the financial markets.
Profitability
The objective of profitability is set out in the financing model for the management of radioactive waste, defined in the successive General Radioactive Waste Plans.
Liquidity
The financing model sets out a clear commitment to very long-term management, intended to reconcile the model’s demands for liquidity with the conditions of the financial markets at any given moment.
The existing regulatory framework, previously mentioned, provides for an official external body, the Monitoring and Control Committee, for the supervision, monitoring and rating of the temporary investments relating to the financial management of the Fund. It is an interministerial body chaired by the Secretary of State for Energy, and which counts among its members the State Controller and Auditor General, the Undersecretary for Economy and Competitiveness, the Secretary General of the Treasury and Financial Policy, the Director General for Energy and Mines and the Deputy Director General for Nuclear Energy. It meets periodically to monitor the implementation of the three guiding principles for management and to establish the investment criteria for the portfolio.
Similarly, and because the Fund’s financial management is of fundamental importance within the management model for radioactive waste, Enresa's Organisation guidelines provide for an internal body, the Investment Committee, whose main task is to analyse and define management policy for the portfolio of temporary financial investments.
In addition, Enresa undergoes the same regular audits as any other company, in compliance with legal and accounting regulations, with its financial statements subject to annual review by external auditors.