The RS Minister of Spatial Planning, Civil Engineering and Ecology, Srebrenka Golic, told the Nezavisne Novine newspaper of Friday that she had forwarded a protest note to the Croatian Minister of Environment and Nature Protection, Mihael Zmajlovic, because Croatia had not informed the relevant authorities in the Bosnian Serb entity about its plan to build a radioactive waste storage facility not far from the Bosnian town of Novi Grad.
"It's inhumane even to talk about storing radioactive waste at a location that is only 3.5 kilometres away from the centre of a municipality with a population of 28,799," Golic said, adding that her ministry had already notified the Serb member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency, Mladen Ivanic, and Foreign Minister Igor Crnadak of its future moves.
"My message to the citizens of Novi Grad and surrounding municipalities is that they will have the greatest possible support from the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Civil Engineering and Ecology and that we will not allow any risks to human life and health or the environment," she said.
Noting that the Trgovska Gora location did not meet the radioactive waste storage standards because of the population density in the area, Golic said that they had requested information from the Croatian authorities about the construction of the radioactive waste storage facility so that other measures might be taken.
A letter has appeared in the media showing Golic's agreement with the plan to build a radioactive waste storage facility in the Trgovska Gora area, but in the interview she dismissed it as a forgery and political insinuation.
Croatia co-owns the Krsko nuclear power plant with Slovenia. It receives half its energy production and therefore needs to dispose of half the radioactive waste generated by the plant. Croatia has assessed that the best location for that would be Trgovska Gora in Dvor municipality, which is opposed by the local community.