Krunoslav Jurcic, former head of nuclear fuel procurement at the Krsko Nuclear Power Plant, revealed what the beginnings of nuclear energy production looked like in Croatia and Slovenia during the 1980s.
“The disposal of low- and medium-level radioactive nuclear waste planned near “Dvor na Uni” municipality, specifically in Cerkezovac, does not provide any benefits for the local population. The local rent that should be included in the law has been omitted. Research was conducted only after the Croatian government declared this the chosen location. It’s sad that the location closest to the Una River is being selected,” Toni Vidan from Green Action previously warned.
Residents oppose the idea of hazardous waste disposal in their area and expect that an environmental study will confirm their doubts about the location’s unsuitability. Reflecting on the past, Krunoslav Jurcic recalled how things were done back then.
How was it done back then?
“Over 40 years ago, no one asked the residents of Krsko anything. The construction site was a few kilometers from Krsko, part of the land was used, and the other part was filled with apple trees – we ate those apples!” Jurcic recalled.
Two nuclear power plants were planned: one in Slovenia and one in Croatia.
Talk of eight nuclear plants
“There was even talk of eight nuclear plants,” he recalled, adding that the first four were supposed to be in Croatia and Slovenia. “In 1982, the Krsko Nuclear Power Plant was put into operation, and after that, a second one was planned in Croatia, which was supposed to be twice as powerful,” he explained.
The most serious locations considered around 1985 were on Vir near Zadar and near Prevlaka. The decision landed on the latter.
Talks began, involving domestic industries, but then in 1986, a ban came from Belgrade – a moratorium was voted on, prohibiting the construction of nuclear power plants: “We never saw that document; it was a political secret,” Jurcic recalled.
“According to the information we had at the time, the motivation was to prevent the energy independence of Croatia and Slovenia,” he said.
The most productive were Croatia and Slovenia
“In my opinion, energy policy is two-thirds politics and one-third economy,” said Jurcic, who was supposed to work on importing nuclear energy from Bosnia and Serbia. He believes that this import trend was indicative, noting that most of the work was done in Slovenia and Croatia at the time.
“The only contracts outside of these firms were with the Earthquake Institute in Skopje and a company from Trstenik,” he described the amount of energy produced in Croatia and neighboring Slovenia.
When asked how the Krsko Nuclear Power Plant project was approached from a security standpoint, Jurcic revealed:
“I didn’t notice any political influence or suggestions. There was a general decision. There was once a ban on importing equipment, so the nuclear plant needed equipment that Westinghouse imported along with nuclear energy,” recalled the expert.
Participation in the construction of a second reactor at Krsko Nuclear Power Plant
Is participation in the project to build a second reactor at the Krsko Nuclear Power Plant something Croatia should seize?
“In my opinion, absolutely. I’m not a fan of nuclear energy; in fact, I was skeptical about whether we could build it all. But considering that the current half of Krsko Nuclear Power Plant supplies Croatia with 16 percent of its electricity, building a second reactor would surely double that,” Jurcic said, giving Hungary as an example, where seven reactors cover 50 percent of their needs. France, meanwhile, gets nearly all of its power from nuclear plants, resulting in the lowest CO2 emissions in Europe.
“With the company that built the nuclear power plant in Turkey,” Jurcic revealed, “we agreed to export Croatian-Slovenian services and goods worth 150 million marks back then.”
When this pioneering endeavor began, was there skepticism about whether we would have the necessary technology and human resources to build a nuclear power plant?
“I came as an economics graduate, and since I spoke good English, I was given a position handling nuclear fuel. Everything was learned on the job, even in the technical sector, but in the end, it was fantastic… With all the improvements, Krsko Nuclear PowerPlant is now expected to operate for 60 years,” he said.
“My nuclear fuel work then involved 40-50 experts worldwide,” concluded Krunoslav Jurcic, one of the pioneers in nuclear energy in Croatia, N1 writes.
E.Dz.
