Publication: Cooling water: a source of conflict in Spain, 1970-1980
Consultable a partir de
Date
Authors
Director
Publisher
Project identifier
Abstract
Water resources are limited and uneven in space and time. Competition for the use of the resource can lead to conflicts between water users. Besides its use for irrigation and agriculture, water is an essential input in the thermoelectric power generation process. Massive Spanish nuclear program projects have conditioned water management in the country, as significant freshwater volumes need to be constantly available for the proper operation of these facilities. Water for cooling has conflicted with other water-using activities, resulting in regional imbalances. The present study shows that cooling water represented a source of conflict between irrigators and electricity companies in Spain in the 1970s and 1980s. A historical analysis of documentary sources reveals that the drawing off of fresh water for cooling by the nuclear industry was one of the many causes of frequent disputes and the rise of social movements against the installation of nuclear power plants in Spain during that period.
Keywords
Department
Faculty/School
Degree
Doctorate program
Editor version
Funding entities
© 2020 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.
Los documentos de Academica-e están protegidos por derechos de autor con todos los derechos reservados, a no ser que se indique lo contrario.