BOJIĆ: CROATIA PREPARES SITE FOR CONSTRUCTION OF REPOSITORY WITHOUT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

SARAJEVO, APRIL 2 /SRNA/ - Croatia is preparing to build a radioactive waste disposal center on Trgovska Gora without conducting an environmental impact assessment, which violates the conventions signed by both Croatia and BiH, Borislav Bojić, coordinator of the BiH Legal and Expert Team for Trgovska Gora, told SRNA.

"We have had information for some time regarding the demolition of structures at this location. We have contacted the Espoo Secretariat in Geneva, and a hearing is scheduled for May," Bojić said, noting that Croatia has already responded to questions from the Espoo Committee.

He emphasized that the BiH Legal and Expert Team is analyzing these questions and preparing to travel to Geneva on May 12.

"We have also contacted the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, where key points involve the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction, and Ecology of Republika Srpska and the Federal Ministry for Environmental Protection," Bojić said.

He announced that a thematic session will be held next week in Novi Grad, during which the public will be informed about all activities being conducted by the Chairman of the Coordination Body and Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations in the Council of Ministers, Staša Košarac.

"The Presidency of BiH reviews this topic every 15 days. Our activities are particularly focused on research, where we have gathered many favorable findings that we will present when the time comes," Bojić said.

He says that it remains to be seen whether arbitration with Croatia will happen by agreement or if the matter will need to be taken to international courts.

When asked about the initiative by Miodrag Linta, president of the Alliance of Serbs from the Region, suggesting that BiH and Serbia should jointly request that European and international institutions force Croatia to halt construction of the radioactive waste disposal center on Trgovska Gora, Bojić said it was an interesting proposal, and he had no objections.

"The essence is that other countries, through their foreign ministries, must also be informed that building nuclear facilities directly on a border is unacceptable for any state. Without the consent of the neighboring country, building a nuclear facility is not permissible," Bojić said.

He recalled that all institutions in BiH have expressed opposition to the construction of this nuclear facility in Croatia on the border with BiH.

"Local communities, cantonal and entity authorities, both houses of the Parliamentary Assembly, and the Presidency of BiH oppose it. Every institution in BiH has publicly opposed the construction of such a facility, which has already caused serious economic damage to Novi Grad and the surrounding area," Bojić pointed out.

He added that even the announcement of the facility’s construction has unsettled the local population.

Land leveling is underway on Trgovska Gora, where the construction of a radioactive waste repository is planned, and eight structures have so far been demolished at the site, the Croatian Fund for Financing the Decommissioning and Disposal of Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel of the Krško Nuclear Power Plant told SRNA.

The Fund stated that a request to initiate an environmental impact assessment procedure related to the establishment of the radioactive waste repository at the Čerkezovac site on Trgovska Gora will soon be submitted to Croatia's Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition.