In the midst of the energy crisis, the issue of nuclear energy has become relevant again. It was considered that Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) produces electricity from this type of energy. Energoinvest was asked to engage in the development of the atomic bomb.
The former Yugoslavia had ambitious goals in using nuclear energy for civilian and military purposes. This included the construction of several nuclear power plants and the development of atomic weapons.
It has been more successful in using nuclear energy to produce electricity than in developing nuclear weapons. There was an attempt of making an atomic bomb here, but it failed.
The Krsko nuclear power plant, which supplies electricity to Slovenia and Croatia, was put into operation in 1981. It was the only power plant of its kind built by the Yugoslav government.
It is important to mention that the intention was for the next such power plant to be built in Prevlaka, Croatia, and which would produce electricity for both Croatia and Slovenia. Slovenia later gave up.
The growing economic crisis in Yugoslavia and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 made Krsko the only nuclear power plant.
Meanwhile, the industrial giant with tens of thousands of workers Energoinvest considered the possibility of building such plants in BiH. Sarajevo and Gorazde were mentioned as locations for their construction.
In the book “Dzemal Bijedic: Political Biography”, historian Husnija Kamberovic, referring to Oslobodjenje’s papers on January 22nd, 1970, noted that Energoinvest proposed the construction of a nuclear heating plant in early 1970 to heat Sarajevo.
In a 2002 monograph on Energoinvest creator Emerik Blum, Muhamed Cico, Izudin Filipovic, Safet Hasanbegovic, Zarko Primorac, and Sefik Vucijak pointed out that Blum was thinking about building a nuclear power plant in Gorazde.
Primorac, who was one of his associates, testified about that. Primorac recounted a conversation with Blum, whom he visited at the Fojnica health resort.
In an interview with Jutarnji list in 2016, the former director of Energoinvest and the Yugoslav Minister of Science, Bozidar Matic, pointed out that Yugoslavia secretly worked on the development of the nuclear bomb in the 1980s. According to him, this is a nuclear program codenamed “Sutjeska”, in which Energoinvest played an important role.
Also, he said that Yugoslavia had signed agreements with Iraq and Libya to build a rocket for which he mentionedwas intended for an atomic bomb. According to Matic, the idea was to make a rocket with a range of up to 300 kilometers and that it should be tested in the area from Siroki Brijeg to Herceg Novi.
E.Dz.
