The municipalities of the Jistebnicko district want more than just promises

Press Release of Platform Against Deep Repository dated December 8, 2017

The leaving and probably new Minister of the Environment Richard Brabec is coming today to negotiate with the mayors of the Magdalena site (Jistebnice near Tábor and its surroundings), one of the sites threatened by the construction of a deep geological repository of radioactive waste. On this occasion, mayors will call on the Minister in the new government to help them to guarantee the possibility of defending their interests in the siting proces for a repository. This will be possible on the basis of autonomous Act to strengthen municipal rights in the siting proces for repository. According to a valid Government Resolution, the draft Act should be submitted by June 2018.

Municipalities will also demand that Minister Brabec rejects the Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (RAWRA)’s plan. According to the letter from the Director Jiří Slovák this week, in the beginning of 2018 RAWRA plans to request for new exploration permits for the next stage of geological works, which will include deep drilling in all sites, and then possibly return the permit if the site is not selected. They do not want to issue a blank check for RAWRA, which changes its approach at any moment. All municipalities in the site - Jistebnice, Nadějkov and Božetice - are members of the Platform Against Deep Repository, which aims at enforcing such a method of finding a solution to the problem of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste that will be open, transparent and in which municipalities and the public will have sufficiently guaranteed possibilities by legislation to defend their legitimate interests.

All municipalities in the site - Jistebnice, Nadějkov and Božetice - are members of the Platform Against Deep Repository, which aims at enforcing such a method of finding a solution to the problem of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste that will be open, transparent and in which municipalities and the public will have sufficiently guaranteed possibilities by legislation to defend their legitimate interests.

The state's current state of affairs is considerably chaotic and does not increase confidence in representatives of local governments, neither in citizens. Minister Brabec has contributed to this situation by cancelling the earlier decision of his ministry ^[1], and declaring that he would decide again to extend the validity of the exploration permits for the site of Magdalena (and also Březový potok, Čertovka and Čihadlo), although the validity expired at the end in 2016. The Minister's decision is in full contradiction with the legilation, according to which it is not possible to extend the validity of decisions that no longer exist. In addition, RAWRA announced that it practically did not need any exploration permits this year ^[2].

The town of Jistebnice, the villages of Nadějkov and Božetice and the local association of the "Zachovalý kraj" (Preserved Region), also filed an appeal in 2015 against the decision of the Minister Richard Brabec, who gave the Repository Authority a permission for the exploration permit in the Magdalena site ^[3]. However, this appeal has not yet been resolved by the Municipal Court in Prague.

Vladimír Mašek, Mayor of Jistebnice, said: "We understand the need to solve the radioactive waste problem. However, chaotic changes, secrecy of information and not delivering on RAWRA’s promises have brought an end to the dialogue with municipalities and associations in the affected sites. We want nothing more than fair negotiations with the state and the opportunity to defend the legitimate interests of our municipalities. We are glad to say this to Minister Brabec today."

Petr Nohava, a spokesman for the Platform Against Deep Repository, added: "The government has promised that after years of deferment, it will approve the legislative intent on strengthening municipal rights in the siting proces for a repository in June 2018. Until the Act is not adopted and selection criteria are not clear and transparent, the entire radioactive waste management process should be stopped."

Further information can be provided by:

• Mgr. Vladimír Mašek, Mayor of Jistebnice - tel.: 602 442 799, e-mail:starosta AT jistebnice DOT cz^[4]
• Ing. Petr Nohava, Mayor of Pluhův Žďár and spokesman for the Platform Against Deep Repository - tel.: 725 972 632, e-mail:pnohava AT gmail DOT com^[4]

1. ↑ The Minister of the Environment’s decision on the appeal of the Radioactive Waste Repository Authority for the Magdalena site dated 7th November 2017: http://www.nechcemeuloziste.cz/cs/lokality/magdalena/pravni-stav-mag/rozhodnuti-listopad-2017-magdalena.html
2. ↑ RAWRA’s communication dated November 22, 2017: http://www.nechcemeuloziste.cz/cs/lokality/magdalena/pravni-stav-mag/sdeleni-surao-o-novem-pozadavku-prodlouzit-povoleni-pruzkumneho-uzemi-jen-do-konce-roku-2017.html
3. ↑ Legal action brought against the decision of the Minister of the Environment dated 10th April 2015: http://www.nechcemeuloziste.cz/cs/lokality/magdalena/pravni-stav-mag/zaloba-proti-rozhodnuti-ministra-zivotniho-prostredi-ze-dne-10-4-2015.html
4. ↑ For protection against automatical email address robots searching for addresses to send spam to them this email address has been made unreadable for them. To get a correct mail address you have to displace "AT" by the @-symbol and "DOT" by the dot-character (".").