Paola Lucchesi on Fri, 23 Mar 2001 12:22:11 +0200 |
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Syndicate: Support Croatian-Bosnian protesters against nuclear waste dumping! |
On Saturday, 24th March 2001, for the second time in little more than a month the citizens of the Banovina region (to the southeast of Zagreb, stretching until the border with Bosnia) will take to the streets to protest against a project by the Croatian government to create a nuclear waste depot in the abandoned mines on Trnovska Gora, a hilly spot just a couple of miles from the border with Bosnia, which is marked in this region by the beutiful "emerald river" Una, on whose protection environmentalists NGOs and groups of citizens from all three bordering states (Croatia, Serbian Republic of Bosnia and BiH Federation) are coming closer in an unprecented coalition. The planned dumping site should be located in the former silver mines near the hamlet of Majdan, in the heart of a territory which is extremenly rich in water sources, with a humid and porous soil. The Una flows into the Sava river just a few scores of miles to the east, while the Sava flows into the Danube in the heart of Belgrade: whatever incidentwith nuclear waste in the planned dumping site would therefore have fatal consequences for a much wider part of Central-Eastern Europe. Moreover, the inhabitants of the concerned region are heavily hit by a deep economic and social crisis following the collapse of Jugoslavija and the two wars (in Croatia and Bosnia) that swept just across this region.Five years after the end of the clashes, the situation is still dramatic (destroyed or closed productive plants, high unemployment rates, still unresolved refugees crisis, scanty infrastructures). The strongest hopes for a better future are based on the development of high-quality agriculture (a project for a centre to support organic agriculture in Dubica, one of the small cities on the Una river, has just been partially financed by the Croatian government), and ecologic, responsible tourism. There are already some projects being developed in this direction. Therefore, the implementation of a nuclear waste dumping site in the heart of this region is in total opposition not only with safety, but also with the wishes and hopes of the local people. The environmentalists groups feel that the government is pushing this localization as its last chance, since as many as five other locations had to be discarded in the last few years owing to the fierce opposition of the local inhabitants. The region of Banovina (and of the Una valley in particular) is weaker since it's still half-empty of a part of its original inhabitants (mostly the Serbian who fled in 1995, since their retunr is going slowly). Therefore, opposition to the nuclear waste project started with a delay, but is taking on rapidly. The most worrying factor, however, is the hypothesis that the planned depot would serve not only the need of the Krsko power plant (located in Slovenia, a few scores of km. from the border with Croatia and its capital, Zagreb; the plant is co-owned by Slovenia and Croatia, and a source of endless polemics between the two states). The planned dumping site is apparently much larger than needed for Krsko alone, therefore there are suspicions that other projects are involved: more precisely "hospitality" for nuclear waste from the French and German nuclear industry. Heavy concern has been cause by the visit of a delegation from FRAMATOM to the president of the Croatian Republic, Stjepan Mesic, in Zagreb last week. Croatia has recently shown its fragility in resisting external pressures from large multinational concerns. A notorius case is the contract forced by the US concern of electric power, Enron, which had been signed already at the time of late president Tudjman: the new government tried in vain to renegotiate some disastrous economic conditions (forcing the empoverished republic to buy electric power at much higher rates than the market average), but hade to give in to political rpessure openly exerted from the US through the US ambassador in Zagreb! The consequences have hti home on average citizens when a few months ago elctric bills went up nearly thirty percent in Croatia. This is just one of the most blatant examples of things that are happening in Croatia. Against this background, the hypothesis that pressure could be put on the government from outside Croatia to take in nuclear waste "imported" from western Europe is extremely worrying. The environmentalist local groups from the Banovina region, led by the youth group Kaos (for Kostajnica) and Roda (Sisak), have already gained support from colleague groups all over Croatia (abouth thirty of them so far, but the movement is growing), and the action has spilled across the border, where about sixty more groups are gathering around the historical Unski Smaragdi (the Una Emeralds, based in Bihac), which have been agitating for over fifteen years on the protection of the Una river and valley, with an outstanding program of education for children and youth in cooperation wiht local schools. The time has now come for this movement to get as much international support as possible. Please, join in! ------------------------------------------------------------------ (translation of the text by the Croatian newsagency HINA on FRAMATOM's visit to Zagreb, March 13th 2001) "The President of the Republic, Stjepan Mesic, has received in Zagreb the representatives of the Freanch company for nuclear technology FRAMATOM with whom he discussed the disposal of nuclear waste from the Krsko power plant and its modernizationb - as communicated by the President's office. FRAMATOM's delegation explained the President what possibilities are envisaged for a collaboration in the disposal of waste from the Krsko nuclear power plant, and for the implementation of a modern control system for the plant itself, to improve its safety; the President's office states that there have already been talks with Slovenia on this issue. FRAMATOM is the most famous European corporation for nuclear technology in the field of power production, and has recently completed a merger with the German Siemens". ------------------------------------------------------------------ PETITION of the local NGOs and groups of citizens against the planned dumping site for nuclear waste on Trnovska Gora We opposed the planned location to build a dumping site for nuclear waste on Trnovska Gora. We believe it is an act against nature and the enviroment in which we live!! We believe that the choice of the location is technically mistaken because the area is rich in water natural sources and the soil is particularly porous, thereby contradicting the guidelines of the IAEA recommendations Tecdoc no.789 "Preparation of safety arrangements for near surface radioactive waste disposal". The site under question is located at just a few miles from the Una river and the border between Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina, therefore whatever problem originating from the dumping site would have heavy consequences for the relationships between the two countries. Moreover, we believe Croatia does not need to build such a large site since it does not produce an amount of nuclear waste that would justify the need for it. All the waters in the area flow into the Una river, that we regard as an ecologic resource to develop our region in the sectors of ecologic tourism and organic agriculture. The environmentalist NGos and groups of citizens of the Banovina region, other Croatian regiona and Bosnia-Hercegovina support the initiative to have the Una river protected as a world reserve of the biosphere under UNESCO patronage. Let's think of the future, because our children are in danger! ------------------------------- Please, sign the petion and/or send letters of support to: - KAOS- Kostajnicka Alternativna Scena: tel/fax:00385 (0)44/851 281;e-mail: daniel.pavlic@sk.hinet.hr - UNSKI SMARAGDI: (tel. and fax) 0038737-333130 - The mayor of Dvor (small Croatian city, the nearest to the site location), mrJuranovic - tel/fax:00385 (0)44/871 133 ------Syndicate mailinglist-------------------- Syndicate network for media culture and media art information and archive: http://www.v2.nl/syndicate to unsubscribe, write to <syndicate-request@aec.at> in the body of the msg: unsubscribe your@email.adress