No-one in rush to host nuclear dump

The choice of the site for Spain's second nuclear waste storage plant has yet to be decided. ABC reports that "the village of Yebra in the province of Guadalajara has been the only local authority to apply" in the run-up to the January 30 deadline for submissions to host the facility. "In a time of economic crisis, millions of euros in investment and the many jobs to be created by the project" have failed to convince local governments, which according to ABC, continue to view the plant as a "poisoned chalice." Pressure from local residents and doubts in the ranks of political parties have forced other applicants, like authorities in Ascó (in the province of Tarragona), to withdraw their bids to host the site. In its editorial, the conservative daily takes the view that the difficulty in locating the site is yet another instance of "the primacy of fragmented local interests, which are now taking precedence over national political imperatives."