Chanovice, West Bohemia, Oct 4 (CTK) – Fourteen municipalities and 11 associations affected by the preparations of an underground repository of spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive waste founded a non-profit society against the plan on Tuesday, their leaders said in a press release sent to CTK.
The Platform Against the Underground Repository wants to insist on an open and transparent solution to the problem in which both the municipalities and the public would have a chance of defending their interests, they said.
The main reason for founding the group was the dissatisfaction with the previous steps taken by the governmental institutions in charge of the issue, the representatives said.
Members of the group will insist on a general debate on the problem of spent nuclear fuel and various solutions to it, they want to stop the prospecting work and to reexamine the current schedule for the search for the repository, the group said.
The repository for thousands of tonnes of spent nuclear fuel will be 0.5 km below the surface and it is supposed to be built in the country by 2065.
The final decision on its location is to be made by the government by 2025. The total costs of its construction and operation are to reach about 111 billion crowns.
The search for the potential localities of the permanent underground repository relates to seven places across the Czech Republic. Last year, municipalities from five of the localities sued the state over the environment minister’s decision to dismiss their objection to the permit for geological prospecting.
The “atomic law” imposes the duty to store safely radioactive waste on the state.
