ARBUTINA: DECISION TO BUILD A NUCLEAR REPOSITORY IS A POLITICAL ONE

ZAGREB, JUNE 24 /SRNA/ - The mayor of Dvor, Nikola Arbutina, said today that Croatia is probably the only country in the world that first makes a political decision on the construction of a radioactive repository in Čerkezovac, and only then prepares an environmental impact assessment that is supposed to determine whether the location is suitable at all.

"What if it turns out that the location is not suitable? Does the state have a backup option?" Arbutina said at a roundtable in Zagreb on the issue of radioactive waste management in the municipality of Dvor. He warned that the planned site for the construction of a radioactive waste storage facility is cut off from transport links during critical parts of the year, namely that the Hrvatska Kostajnica–Dvor road is closed twice a year for several days due to the water level of the Una River. In addition, Arbutina says that the road was built in 1965 and has not been renovated since, while the condition of the other road route, Glina–Dvor, is even worse. He stated that the environmental impact assessment will soon be presented for public review, including a cross-border review in neighbouring BiH. "We expect the involvement of experts from across the region, especially from BiH, where the discussion will be based on the strength of arguments, not the force of politics," Arbutina said. He pointed out that Croatia has adopted a regulation on paying compensation to the municipality of Dvor, but that these are minimal funds compared to the enormous burden the state is placing on this local community, especially when future challenges are taken into account. Croatia plans to store radioactive waste from the Krško Nuclear Power Plant and existing institutional waste at the Trgovska Gora site in the municipality of Dvor, right on the border with BiH.