In a statement sent to Lusa, MIA states that the information on the occurrence of this nuclear accident came from the Tanquem Cofrents platform, which is part of the Iberian movement and that brings together the main ecological groups and organisations of the Valencian civil society.

The accident was recorded on Thursday, with "a leak of highly radioactive water in the turbine of the plant, in the reactor's primary circuit".

The Iberdrola Group, owner of the nuclear power plant, through a note published on its website, states that “this incident had no impact on the safety of the facilities, people or the environment”.

“The Cofrentes nuclear power plant, following established procedures, informed the Nuclear Safety Council that, at 10:17 am [Thursday], the automatic shutdown of the reactor was registered due to the operation of its protection system by a low punctual signal level in the reactor vessel. All safety systems in the factory functioned properly according to the project and the unit is stable in operating condition three (hot stop)”, the document reads.

According to Iberdrola, the specific decrease in the water level "was due to the decrease in the flow of feed water" and the technical team of the nuclear power plant “is carrying out the anomaly resolution tasks”.

The MIA, on the other hand, states that the leak occurred "outside the containment of the reactor, whose mission is precisely to keep possible radioactive discharges isolated from the outside."

"The group [Fechem Cofrentes] continues to explain that this leak does not appear to have been detected in the first instance, but only as a result of the reduction in the water level inside the reactor, which led to the urgent need to stop the reactor."

They add that this accident represented the first unscheduled shutdown of the Spanish nuclear power plant in Cofrentes since the renewal of the operating license in March of this year.

According to environmentalists, the Cofrentes plant "is old and deteriorated" which, together with the management policy "of maximising production at all costs, makes it more than predictable that accidents like this or more serious will be repeated."

"The MIA has insisted that this plant be closed as it endangers all citizens, and that a rapid transition be made to a system based solely on renewable energy, that avoids catastrophic climate change and that will make it cleaner, safer and cheaper," he concludes.

It also warns of the danger of extending the operation of the Almaraz nuclear power plant, located 100 kilometres from the border with Portugal and next to the Tagus River.