Czech lower house postpones radioactive waste repository rules until Friday

The Chamber of Deputies has postponed until Friday morning the completion of the second reading of a bill that is intended to set rules for building a deep geological repository for radioactive waste. The delay was proposed today by Aleš Dufek, leader of the KDU-ČSL parliamentary group, who gave no reason for it. Municipalities where a repository could be built are protesting against the bill. They are demanding that a veto on repository construction be enshrined in law. Neither the government’s bill nor the amendments recommended by the Chamber of Deputies’ Economic Affairs Committee provide for this. The Ministry of Industry and Trade rejected the demand, saying that the interests of municipalities cannot outweigh those of the state—in this case, maintaining nuclear power as one of the pillars of the Czech energy sector.

Among other things, the committee recommended extending by up to three times the periods that municipalities and Parliament would have to submit their views on the construction of a deep geological repository for radioactive waste. It also proposed that, unlike under the government’s bill, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate should not approve the cabinet’s decision on the main and reserve sites for the repository.