Spanish nuclear output was lower than expected at 5.1 GW Monday after an outage at the 1 

GW Vandellos 2 nuclear plant was extended for a further week. 

The  plant  was  due  back  online  at  the  weekend,  on  April  6,  but  its operator Centrales 

Nucleares Asco Vandellos 2 (ANAV) said in a note on its website Saturday that it had found a 

leak and decided to keep the reactor offline. 

"During an inspection, a small leak was detected in a thermocouple column. Once the origin 

was identified, the necessary action was taken, and the plant kept in cold shutdown," ANAV 

said. 

A water leak in the ventilation valve was identified as the source of the initial water leak that 

caused the plant to close in March. 

According to Entso-e's European transparency platform, the reactor will remain offline until 

April 14, having been initially taken offline on March 2. 

The 1.0 GW plant, 72% owned by Endesa and 28% by Iberdrola, was halted as a preventativ

e measure on that date. 

The extended outage overlaps with a planned halt for the 1 GW nuclear plant at Almaraz 2, 

owned by Iberdrola (53%), Endesa (36%) and Gas Natural Fenosa (11%). 

The plant was taken offline Sunday for a programmed refueling halt that will last until May 12, 

according to Entso-e.