Deadline Looms for Croatia Over Nuclear Waste Storage

The nuclear power plant in Krsko in Slovenia, which is half-owned by Croatia, should be a stable source of electricity for both Croatia and Slovenia by 2043.

NPP Krsko produces waste that is temporarily stored in the power plant and for almost 36 years this temporary solution has been in force.

But concern is growing over the lack of a long-term agreement between Slovenia and Croatia about where the nuclear waste will be stored in future.

Slovenia's Ministry for the Environment and Spatial Planning told BIRN that they already have a location for storage at Vrbina, about 500 metres from the Krsko power plant.

"They [Croatia] are supposed to take half of the waste from the Krsko NPP after 2023, unless we find a mutual agreement about a single solution. Negotiations are ongoing," the ministry told BIRN.

After Croatian media reported this week that Croatia has no solution yet to the issue, BIRN asked the country's Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy to comment. However, no reply was received by the time of publication.

Nina Domazet, editor of the Croatian website "energetika-net", told BIRN that Croatia should take over half of the waste and store it at a location that is geologically the most suitable.

"There are few such locations in Croatia. As a result of earlier analysis, three were found, but political lobbying meant all of them were dropped but one, at Trgovska gora, which did not have a strong lobby," Domazet said.

She added that a solution was financially necessary. Otherwise Croatia will need to pay Slovenia much more for the landfill of Vrbina.

The Krsko power plant was built and put into operation in the 1980s by Slovenia and Croatia, when both republics were part of Yugoslavia.