Czech municipalities in the Pošumaví region seek removal from nuclear repository sites, ministry disagrees

Municipalities in the Pošumaví region have asked Industry Minister Jozef Síkela (STAN) to remove the Březový potok site from the four areas under consideration in Czechia for a radioactive waste repository. The Czech News Agency has seen the mayors' letter. However, following expert recommendations, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MPO) continues to support exploration work at all four sites and has offered the Pošumaví municipalities dialogue with the ministry or the Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (SÚRAO). The new head of SÚRAO met with municipal representatives in January.

The mayors of all nine municipalities and the town of Horažďovice, whose cadastral areas are being considered by the state for the construction of a permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, argue in their letter that the site was included in the plan without their cooperation and that SÚRAO merely informed the municipalities of this unilaterally. Moreover, the area of interest was expanded for the third time the year before last. They said that since 2003, when the state announced the plan, all local councils had opposed the repository at the site and had always rejected exploration and research work in their administrative areas. “And we do not agree with it now either,” the mayors said. They reiterated that over 20 years, lawmakers have not passed any legislation addressing municipalities' rights in this matter.

According to MPO spokesman David Hluštík, the mayors are already familiar with the responses to their objections, as the minister met representatives of all four shortlisted sites in December. “He introduced them to the new director of SÚRAO, the plans and activities for preparing the deep geological repository, and confirmed his interest in intensive communication with municipal representatives. He did not challenge the selection of the four sites, meaning the inclusion of the Březový potok site in the narrowed shortlist, and heeded the experts' recommendation,” he said. The MPO therefore supports exploration work at all four sites. The new head of SÚRAO met municipal representatives in Horažďovice. “We did not really understand why they initiated it; we learned nothing new there. He is trying to visit the sites, apparently on instructions from the minister, but it made no sense to us,” said Petr Klásek, who was mayor of Chanovice until last year and continues to campaign against the repository on behalf of the municipalities.

According to Hluštík, SÚRAO's activity plan, approved by the government on 11 January this year, envisages submitting applications to designate exploration areas for interventions into the Earth's crust at the four sites in the first quarter of 2023, while hydrogeological monitoring is to begin at the end of the third quarter. Public tenders for geological work – drilling, geophysics and other activities – will begin following technical specifications, the preparation of which will start in the first quarter of 2023.

On 11 January, the government approved a draft law on proceedings concerning the deep geological repository. It regulates the rights and time limits of affected municipalities in individual proceedings. According to the municipalities, which have long opposed the repository, it does not substantially increase their powers. The Platform Against the Deep Geological Repository, which brings together 52 municipalities and associations, has asked the government to fundamentally redraft the bill. The site is to be selected in 2030.