PROPOSED LAW ON CONSTRUCTION OF A RADIOACTIVE WASTE CENTER VIOLATES NORMS AND RIGHTS

BANJA LUKA, JULY 3 /SRNA/ – The Minister for Spatial Planning, Construction, and Ecology of Republika Srpska Bojan Vipotnik told SRNA that the Croatian draft law on the construction of a radioactive waste disposal center represents a fundamental violation of legal norms and international law, emphasizing that the Ministry he leads has requested that the interests of BiH as a potentially affected party be protected.

Vipotnik questioned how it is possible for a law to designate the location for a nuclear facility while the environmental impact assessment study for the disposal site has not yet been completed.

He stated that Croatia has completely revealed its intentions through this draft law, which unambiguously declares that the Center for Radioactive Waste Disposal will be built at the Čerkezovac barracks site on Trgovska Gora, in the municipality of Dvor.

"And the wording `that the acceptability of the project… will be assessed in the environmental impact assessment procedure` is the height of cynicism and fully explains the claims heard from certain officials that they will `arrange for the impact study to be favorable.` Meanwhile, Croatia has not addressed the transboundary impact on BiH at all in its studies!" Vipotnik said.

He stressed that the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction, and Ecology has requested from lawyers in the Expert Team and from the international legal consultant, the French firm Labord, to react without delay within their competencies to protect the interests of BiH as a potentially affected party.

"We demand that the Council of Ministers and the Presidency of BiH finally become institutionally involved in resolving the issue of building a nuclear facility right on BiH's border, because this exceeds the sphere of environmental and public health protection and has become primarily a political and security problem!" Vipotnik emphasized.

He reminded that the National Assembly, through its Resolution opposing the construction and establishment of a nuclear facility at Trgovska Gora, has obligated all institutions at all levels of government to, for the sake of protecting the safety and health of citizens, intensify and coordinate all available political, legal, and diplomatic activities in accordance with the provisions of international law to prevent Croatia from disposing radioactive waste, spent sources, and spent nuclear fuel at a location right on BiH's border.

The Croatian Ministry of Economy has submitted the draft law on the construction of the radioactive waste disposal center for e-consultation.

The law specifies that the site in question is the Čerkezovac barracks on Trgovska Gora, in the municipality of Dvor, and that the acceptability of the radioactive waste disposal center project at part of the former Čerkezovac military warehouse complex will be assessed in the environmental impact assessment procedure.

The e-consultation process will last until July 26, and it has been proposed that the law be adopted under an urgent procedure.

It is planned that Trgovska Gora will be used to dispose of institutional radioactive waste from the territory of Croatia, as well as half of the low and intermediate-level radioactive waste from the Krško Nuclear Power Plant.