Does Dual Ownership of Waste Imply a Regional Disposal Approach?
- ARAO - Agency for Radwaste Management, Parmova 53, Si-1000 Ljubljana (Slovenia)
The construction of the Nuclear Power Plant Krsko, being located in Slovenia near the Slovenian-Croatian border, was a joint investment by Slovenia and Croatia, two republics of the former Yugoslavia. The plant was completed in 1981 and the commercial operation started early in 1983. The obligations and rights of both investors during the construction and operation were specified in two bilateral contracts signed in 1974 and 1982. These contracts were fairly detailed on construction, operation and exploitation of the nuclear power plant (NPP), but they said very little about future nuclear liabilities. The electricity production was equally shared between the two countries and both parties participated in management of the NPP. In 1991, after Slovenia and Croatia became two independent countries, the agreement on the ownership and exploitation of the NPP Krsko was re-negotiated and a new contract signed in 2003. By the new contract the decommissioning and the disposal of spent fuel (SF) as well as low and intermediate level waste (LILW) is the responsibility of both parties, and the financial resources for covering these liabilities should be equally provided. Regardless of shared ownership of waste, the agreement opts for a single disposal solution for LILW as well as for SF, but the details are left open. More clear elaboration of these responsibilities is given in the programme of the decommissioning and disposal of radioactive waste from the NPP which was jointly prepared by the Slovenian and Croatian waste management organisations in 2004. The programme is clearly opting for only one repository for LILW and one repository for spent fuel, which can be located either in Slovenia or Croatia. Irrespective of the country where such a repository will be sited, dual ownership of waste opens up another dimension of such a solution: will such a repository be regarded as a national facility or as a regional or multinational facility? Both options-national and regional/multinational- may have a strong influence on future agreements on waste disposal, but so far these aspects have not been addressed either in Slovenia or Croatia. The paper brings reflections and discussion on these aspects of waste management in Slovenia and reveals the current situation of the waste disposal project in the country. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 13023, Tucson, AZ, 85732-3023 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21208691
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US--09-WM-06222
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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