Deadly Waste All Around Us
Glas Javnosti - February 29, 2004
Written by: Tanja Kaludjerovic
At the top of the West's list of prospective nuclear waste dumping grounds are
countries and regions that are international military protectorates, such as
Bosnia -Hercegovina, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Who can control military
deliveries to those places? The United States has already made preparations for
studying the effects of nuclear waste and depleted uranium on the local
population in Kosmet [Kosovo-Metohija] in the next 30 years. The air strikes on
Yugoslavia in 1999 have definitely sealed the fate of the region as the rubbish
heap for the nuclear waste of others, environmental activist Dejan Dimov
insists.
Radiation measurements made in the 1980s indicate that Serbia had been
processing the nuclear waste of others back then. "In the global euphoria of
building nuclear power plants, which had begun in 1945, it had been planned for
the former Yugoslavia to build 43 nuclear power plants by the year 2025, and the
number was subsequently revised down to 23. In Serbia, one was to be build in
Mladenovo near Backa Topola, another in Kostolac, and as many as seven in the
Piva River Valley. In the division of labour among the republics, the storage of
nuclear waste was to be in the care of the Vinca Nuclear Research Institute,"
Dimov says.
Although this plan was subsequently abandoned, the so-called 1989 "August
radiation" showed that there had been some "dirty work at the crossroads" in
Serbia where nuclear waste was concerned. "Tests confirmed the existence of
isotopes from a nuclear reactor. This was conclusive proof that Serbian industry
had processed some nuclear waste. Somebody probably had an idea to burn the
waste at high temperatures in the furnaces of the Bor mines and then scatter the
residue over Serbia (although this process certainly does not reduce radiation).
"If such a thing were to happen today, they would be very well served by the
existing law on ionizing radiation, which requires that beta radiation
measurements should be taken only a month after an accident," Dimov warns. He
described the law as genocidal, because it essentially allows trading in
extremely hazardous materials and directly protects the lobby that advocates the
storage of nuclear waste.
Two years since the establishment of a separate ministry for the protection of
natural resources and the environment, Serbia still does not have an adequate
law that would prevent abuses in this field. "Minister Andjelka Mihajlov keeps
insisting that, before it was passed, the law on environmental protection had
been put to a public debate in which 3,000 experts took part. I would like to
know the name of at least one of the experts that agreed to the provisions of
that law. How can we feel protected by a law that entails a maximum fine of
5,000 euros for offenders?
"The minister has done nothing but establish an agency without a law or a
parliamentary decision, so that she could receive donations. There everything is
in order, since donated money is spent according to strict rules: 80 per cent of
the money that comes in goes back the same way by way of projects devised by
foreign agencies. Of the total assistance received, 20 per cent at most can go
to domestic research institutes," Dimov states, expressing disappointment with
the Serbian ministers, who have no ideas or vision, nor do they tackle the right
issues.
Self-styled reformists
"I am terribly afraid that the self-styled reformist politicians do not
recognize the priorities. Every European bureaucratic government will support
without a murmur a policy of priorities and protect the national interests of
resources and the environment. In our case, it is again the same old story of
new people are coming to power and immediately creating a new wonder: a ministry
of science and the environment. The merging of these areas means that nothing
will also be done about science, or about environmental protection. Funds from
the budget earmarked for science are less than meagre (0.03 per cent) and have
to cover the ecological needs as well. In future, environmental protection will
be the subject only of newspaper reports written by correspondents concerned
about how their children will live," Dimov maintains.
[Box] Profit
Of all the types of ground tested for dumping nuclear waste (salt, concrete,
ocean, desert), scientists recommend basalt rocks. In Serbia, this type of rock
is to be found on Kopaonik and Fruska Gora Mountains.
"Since one part of Kopaonik has been sold off for a NATO base and another
tourist part brings in huge profits, Fruska Gora is the obvious choice. Decision
time is drawing near, because Minister Andjelka Mihajlov said three months ago
that the Serbian government would be choosing within six months a central
location for storing Serbian nuclear waste," Nikola Aleksic, chairman of the
Ecological Movement of Novi Sad, warns of the possible nuclear epilogue in
Serbia. He stresses that political parties show a heightened interest in the
environment only for reason of profit.
"The biggest money comes from commissions on building a nuclear power plant.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that some parties are advocating building a
nuclear power plant in Vojvodina. A scandal has been caused not by this
proposal, but by somebody in the province's administration giving approval for a
central smelting plant and a dump for the most highly toxic chemical waste from
all of Serbia to be built right over the most powerful source of drinking water.
"The Ministry of Environmental Protection has already drawn up a project with
the help of the French SOFRECO [expansion unknown] consultants and said the
local administration has agreed. To this day, the minister has not explained who
has given the consent in the name of the 300,000 citizens of Novi Sad," says the
chairman of the Vojvodina ecological organization, which is a member of the
European Ecological Bureau.
Original Language: Serbian
Glas javnosti, Belgrade February 29, 2004 /BBC Monitoring/(c) BBC Record Number:
10121CEAE86765EF
Posted for Fair Use only.