Bosnia May Seek Arbitration on Croatia Nuclear Waste Dispute

Bosnia may request international arbitration if Croatia proceeds with a plan to create a nuclear waste disposal site just across the border from Novi Grad in north-west Bosnia, Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Minister Stasa Kosarac was reported as saying.

Kosarac's ministry said dumping waste from the Croatian-Slovenian jointly-owned Krsko nuclear power plant at a former military storage facility near the Croatian town of Dvor would endanger the health and lives of some 250,000 people living in 13 Bosnian municipalities along the Una River.

He made the statement after speaking with a group of ministers from Bosnia's two entities, state parliamentarians and Novi Grad's mayor via video link on Tuesday.

Kosarac reportedly informed them about his telephone conversations with the Croatian ambassador to Bosnia, Ivan Sabolic, and Croatia's Environment and Energy Minister, Tomislav Coric, after the fund for financing the decommissioning of the Krsko power plant and the disposal of its radioactive waste said last week that it had received approval from Coric's environment ministry to use the former Čerkezovac military barracks at Trgovska Gora near Dvor.

The statement said the video conference had concluded that Bosnia's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations would now ask the Council of Ministers - Bosnia's state government - to help set up legal teams "to deal with this open bilateral issue with Croatia, and that budget funds be allocated for this".   

"It was also concluded that it was necessary for all relevant institutions to strengthen diplomatic activities with the goal of preventing Croatia from designating this location as the final solution for the disposal of the nuclear waste," it added.

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