Croatia is moving step by step towards implementing the plan to build a waste disposal center for the Krško nuclear power plant on Trgovska Gora – a disputed location on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. While the cleanup of the area is well underway, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s response is still being prepared. Can construction work on one side of the border be stopped without a timely reaction from institutions and strong diplomacy?
Excavators, trucks, heavy machinery in Čerkezovac on Trgovska Gora. The demolition of buildings and the clearing of the terrain indicate the preparation of the area for the disposal of nuclear waste.
“Croatia has already practically started construction work. The point is that a good part of the buildings on Trgovska Gora have been demolished to make room for the construction of the so-called long-term storage facility for radioactive waste from the Krško Nuclear Power Plant,” points out Mario Crnković, an activist with the NGO “Green Team” Novi Grad.
Croatia assures that construction of the Center cannot begin without confirming a location suitable for the establishment of the Center by issuing a decision by the competent ministry.
“The buildings at the Čerkezovac location are being removed as a preparation, with the aim of shortening the construction period of the Center itself, if the project is confirmed through the environmental impact assessment procedure,” the Fund for Financing the Decommissioning of the Krško Nuclear Power Plant states.
Radioactive threat on the border. However, Bosnia and Herzegovina is in no hurry. There is no reaction. More precisely, while excavators are working on one side of the border, preparations are being made on our side for an expert response.
“Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently preparing an expert basis for a response to the strategic documents adopted by Croatia and in response to the fact that this location is not acceptable for Bosnia and Herzegovina,” says Jasmin Emrić, NES representative in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament.
There has also been no diplomatic pressure. Trgovska Gora is not a topic in meetings between officials from the two countries.
“The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina has not sent a protest note to Croatia. Likewise, in the field of diplomacy, that is, foreign relations, we do not have a single victory. Not a single country has stood by Bosnia and Herzegovina. And that is why the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which are jointly responsible for the foreign policy of this country, are obliged to launch a diplomatic offensive when it comes to this case,” says Crnković.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has hired a law firm from Paris. An expert team is also working, which is again waiting for the Environmental Impact Study.
“Safety studies, project, design, waste packaging, transport, which we are eagerly awaiting, so that we can also give our comments because to date we have not received the categorization of the waste that they want to bring to Trgovska Gora. I have information that they want to pass a lex specialis law according to which they most likely want to speed it up and skip the procedure defined for the construction of such a facility,” says Emir Dizdarević, chairman of the expert team of Bosnia and Herzegovina for Trgovska Gora.
The legal dispute with Croatia on this issue is mentioned casually and flatly in the state institutions. At the same time, without information about the specific initiative, methods and generally formal-legal possibilities in this situation, Federalna writes.
