APPEAL NOT TO SUPPORT THE LAW ON TRGOVSKA GORA IN CROATIAN PARLIAMENT

NOVI GRAD, DECEMBER 13 /SRNA/ – Local communities from Republika Srpska and the FBiH located along the Una River have sent a letter to the Croatian Parliament appealing to MPs not to vote, on Monday, December 15, in favour of the proposed law on a radioactive waste management centre that would place Trgovska Gora within the legal framework for such a facility.

The letter, titled as an appeal to protect the right of the population along the Una River in BiH to a safe life, was sent by the municipalities of Krupa na Uni, Novi Grad, Kostajnica, Prijedor, Kozarska Dubica, Gradiška, Velika Kladuša, Bihać, Bosanska Krupa, Ključ, and Bosanski Petrovac, and was also joined by the Ministry of Construction, Spatial Planning, and Environmental Protection of the Una-Sana Canton. “We are addressing you in the hope that you will understand our fears regarding media reports that Croatia is determined to long-term store or dispose of radioactive waste from the Krško Nuclear Power Plant, as well as institutional radioactive waste from Croatia, at the Čerkezovac site,” the letter states. It was emphasized that they believe their rights to life and dignity will be protected in the same way as those of citizens of Croatia. The letter notes that, according to media reports, the Government of Croatia adopted on November 20 the Bill on the Construction of a Radioactive Waste Management Centre and forwarded it for further parliamentary procedure. This is a special law /lex specialis/ defining the area for the planned facility within a zone marked by 126 points at the site of the former military storage complex Čerkezovac /Trgovska Gora/. The law is intended to enable the issuance of environmental and location permits for the construction of a radioactive waste management centre, i.e. a long-term storage facility for radioactive waste from the Krško Nuclear Power Plant and institutional radioactive waste from Croatia at the Čerkezovac site. It was stressed that this is being done without a strategic environmental impact assessment of Croatia’s national spatial development plan and without involving the public and local population from BiH in the decision-making process regarding the facility’s location. As emphasized, this is contrary to directives and conventions that require consideration of alternative locations and active participation of the public from a country affected by a potential project, in this case BiH, in the decision-making process. They added that affected local communities in BiH did not in any way participate in the selection of the Čerkezovac site on Trgovska Gora as the sole preferred location for radioactive waste disposal, nor were they consulted when four possible locations -Psunj, Papuk, Trgovska Gora, and Moslavačka Gora were being considered. BiH experts believe that Croatia should halt the process of site characterization at Čerkezovac and all activities related to this location, and return the radioactive waste management process to the stage of selecting multiple preferred locations, for which feasibility studies would be conducted and research carried out. They also stated that if any location within a distance of less than 50 kilometers from the BiH border is considered, a joint commission composed of experts from Croatia and BiH should be formed immediately to carry out all further activities and, through coordination, find a solution acceptable to both sides. Croatia plans to store radioactive waste from the Krško Nuclear Power Plant, as well as existing institutional radioactive waste, at the Trgovska Gora site in the municipality of Dvor, in the immediate vicinity of the border with BiH.