Czech Pošumaví municipalities will delay all processes to prepare a nuclear waste repository

Twenty municipalities in the Březový potok site in Pošumaví agreed today to delay as much as possible the processes leading to preparations for building a deep geological repository for radioactive waste. The municipalities want to slow geological surveys in the area and will appeal against permits for boreholes, which the Ministry of the Environment is expected to issue by the end of the year. They will send a statement expressing dissatisfaction with the repository law to the heads of the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and the president’s office. The law passed the Chamber of Deputies a week ago and excludes municipalities from decisions on the final site. They will contact senators and ask them not to approve the law, Chanovice Mayor Petr Čotek (Association for the Future) told CTK.

The municipalities concerned have consistently opposed the repository, which has been under discussion for 20 years. Besides Březový potok, the sites under consideration are Horka and Hrádek in the Vysočina Region, and Janoch near Temelín. Under the law, the government is to select a site by 2028.

Horažďovice Mayor Michael Forman (Citizens of HD), spokesman for the nationwide Platform Against the Deep Geological Repository, said that coalition lawmakers before the election and Industry Minister Jozef Síkela (STAN) last December had promised municipalities that their rights would be strengthened. “In the end, they even removed from the law the compromise requiring approval by parliament and the Senate for the repository site,” he said. According to Forman, the municipalities are opposed mainly because the state is acting in a heavy-handed and dismissive manner. “If everything were put on the table and a credible compensation system were established, I believe an agreement could be reached somewhere,” he added. According to him, people are most afraid of the vast construction project, which is to cover 290 hectares underground and is expected to take decades to build.

Forman added that the municipalities would do everything possible to delay all processes leading to preparations for the repository, which is due to become operational in 2050. “We want to show them that they have to communicate with the sites, municipal councils and residents, and that it cannot be done without that. That is the only way we can reach some kind of solution,” he said.

The municipalities will ask the Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (SÚRAO) for a map of the geological work, particularly the 11 exploratory boreholes, which will be 30 to 1,200 metres deep. According to the mayors, SÚRAO is so far unwilling to provide it and plans to deal only with the owners of the affected land. “But we own land there too. And we are responsible for the cadastral area, so we need to know what is happening in our territory,” Čotek said.

In the coming days, the mayors will consult lawyers on how they might challenge the law. “We will have a legal analysis prepared and then turn to the Czech courts, and perhaps also to a European court,” Forman said.

Representatives of the platform, which brings together municipalities and associations from all the sites, will meet in Chanovice on 13 December. “All 56 municipalities are demanding that municipalities have a say in approving a repository site, and want to be dealt with openly. We are aware that it has to be somewhere, but we want the site to be selected properly, with the greatest possible emphasis on safety, and with the economic, social and technical impacts assessed so that everything is clear,” Forman added. According to him, the repository’s parameters are still changing significantly, which is causing considerable mistrust.