Croatia approves radioactive waste site despite Bosnia protests
Croatia’s parliament passed a law enabling construction of a radioactive waste facility near the Bosnian border. The site will store waste from the Krško Nuclear Power Plant and Croatian medical facilities, despite years of opposition from communities in Bosnia who warn it threatens 250,000 people.
Croatia’s parliament approved a radioactive waste disposal facility on Monday at a site less than a kilometre from Bosnia and Herzegovina, defying years of protests from neighbours who say the project threatens a quarter of a million people.
The law provides the regulatory basis for building a facility at Čerkezovac on Trgovska Gora to store waste from the Krško Nuclear Power Plant, which Croatia co-owns with Slovenia, as well as radioactive waste from Croatian hospitals and industry.
Under a bilateral agreement with Slovenia, Croatia must take responsibility for disposing of half the low and intermediate-level radioactive waste generated by Krško, operating since the early 1980s when both countries were part of socialist Yugoslavia.
The facility at the former army barracks site near the border with Bosnia is intended to store this waste temporarily for 40 years before permanent disposal.
