Minister from Bosnia and Herzegovina accuses Croatia for Trgovska Gora: 'Vile and perfidious'

The Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Staša Košarac, has accused Croatia of using "vile and perfidious" actions to implement the project for the construction of a radioactive waste disposal site on Trgovska Gora in the municipality of Dvor.

In a statement to the local media in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Staša Košarac reacted to the fact that the Directorate for Environmental Impact Assessment and Sustainable Waste Management, which operates under the Croatian Ministry of Economy, published information related to the preparation of an environmental impact study for the landfill that would be built at the beginning of February in the former Čerkezovac barracks on Trgovska Gora.

This information is a public document published on the website of the Administration and submitted to the authorities of Sisak-Moslavina County and the Municipality of Dvor, with an invitation to all interested parties to comment on its content, i.e. on the environmental impact study, and submit their possible comments and suggestions.

For BiH Minister Košarac, this is a problem that endangers interstate relations because, as he claims, Croatia does not directly deliver to BiH the documents accompanying the preparations for the construction of the landfill on Trgovska Gora.

“This act by Croatia does not contain elements of good bilateral relations, but further damages them,” he said. He also said that this is a perfidious attempt by Croatia to avoid a reaction from BiH, especially bearing in mind their claim that in the case of Trgovska Gora there is no cross-border impact (on the environment).

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, they claim that the landfill on Trgovska Gora would pose a threat to the environment along the entire Una river basin. They say that the possibility of leaking radioactive waste cannot be ruled out, which could threaten the existence of around 250,000 inhabitants on both sides of the border in the area.

“Protecting the health of our citizens and the environment is a top priority and we will not give up on that,” said Košarac, who is now calling for a reaction from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

BiH Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmedin Konaković previously announced that the plan to build a radioactive waste disposal site on Trgovska Gora will be the subject of a joint session of the governments of the two countries, planned for June.

Trgovska Gora was defined as a possible location for the disposal of radioactive waste, including that from the nuclear power plant in Krško, by the Spatial Planning Program of Croatia from 1999 and 2013 and the Spatial Development Strategy from 2017.

It was chosen because it is a complex of the former Čerkezovac barracks or warehouse, which covers 60 hectares in a completely uninhabited area, from which Dvor is five kilometers away. Bosanski Novi, the largest populated place in that region, is also that far away.

Croatia has an obligation to ensure the storage of half of the spent nuclear fuel from Krško, and Čerkezovac would be used for this from 2025 to 2060.

Source: HRT