Czech municipalities: Parliament could have made nuclear waste repository decision-making more credible

Parliamentary oversight of decision-making on a nuclear waste repository, which the Chamber of Deputies rejected on Tuesday, could have restored greater confidence in the process, Zdeněk Dvořák (independent), mayor of Dolní Cerekev in the Jihlava region, told the Czech News Agency today. He said the state was turning its back on the municipalities affected by the project, which must be very cautious. Two of the four areas identified in Czechia by the Radioactive Waste Repository Authority as potential repository sites are in the Vysočina Region: Horka and Hrádek. Municipalities in both areas have long opposed the repository.

Under the approved law, only the government will decide where the repository is sited and built. MPs rejected a proposal to make implementation of the cabinet’s decision conditional on approval by both parliamentary chambers, as the Senate had sought in line with the original government proposal.

Dolní Cerekev is in the Hrádek area. „We hoped for greater support from MPs, but unfortunately that support was very limited. The senators stood up for us, but the MPs did not,“ Dvořák said. He added that the repository issue had therefore been left to a directive decision by the government.

The law gives municipalities 140 days to submit their views on the government’s proposal for the repository site. Dvořák said the time limits needed to be extended. „For example, the latest documents that came in ran to more than 1000 pages, and one person really has no chance of reading them within a 30-day period,“ he said.

Opposition to the repository’s construction also persists in the Horka area. „The arrangement whereby only the government approves it is unacceptable to us,“ said Petr Piňos (SOCDEM), mayor of Budišov in the Třebíč region.

Zdeněk Souček (independent), mayor of Rudíkov in the Třebíč region, said that Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Síkela (STAN) had failed to keep a promise he made at a meeting with mayors. „We are outraged that this is how it has turned out,“ he said, referring to the fact that approval by the parliamentary chambers would not be required for a decision on the repository.

The Ministry of the Environment is currently considering applications from the Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (SÚRAO) to designate exploration areas for the repository. Vysočina municipalities have filed an objection alleging possible bias in the process, citing cooperation between SÚRAO and the Czech Geological Survey, which falls under the ministry. „The minister (of the environment) has now rejected our claim of bias. So the permitting process for the surveys is continuing,“ Souček said. He said the area would seek to secure the public’s right to have a say on the repository through European legislation.

SÚRAO wants to investigate four areas for the repository. Besides Vysočina, these include Janoch near the Temelín nuclear power plant in South Bohemia and Březový potok in the Klatovy region. The site for a repository for spent fuel from nuclear power plants is due to be selected in 2030; according to the platform opposing the repository, the law shortens the deadline by two years. Thousands of tonnes of spent fuel from nuclear power plants are to be permanently stored in the repository, half a kilometre underground.

vst dr