INTERVIEW-Spain opens door to prolonging life of nuclear plants

MADRID, May 31 (Reuters) Spain's Socialist government will not set dates for the country's eight nuclear reactors to close down and could prolong their lives if there is not enough renewable energy available to replace them, a senior party official said.

The Socialists have promised to substitute nuclear energy with renewable sources and are under pressure from left-wing and environmentalist groups to rule on when the plants will close.

But now the government is hinting that the plants, which provide a fifth of Spain's electricity, could have their working lives extended.

''We haven't drawn up a calendar for closures because we have to decide whether we are in a position to close them or not,'' Soraya Rodriguez, the Socialist party's environment secretary, told Reuters in an interview late yesterday.

''At the moment the government is not in a position to do it because we do not have the renewable alternatives available.'' Soaring oil prices and the need to curb carbon dioxide emissions have reopened the nuclear debate in several countries and Spain's supposedly anti-nuclear government is being careful to keep its options open.

The party's policy is unchanged, Rodriguez sai