On Monday, the Croatian Parliament passed the Act on the Construction of a Radioactive Waste Management Center through an urgent procedure, which provides a regulatory basis for the construction of a waste disposal site from the Krško Nuclear Power Plant, as well as domestic hospitals and industry, with the preferred location being Čerkezovac on Trgovska Gora, it writes. HRT.
The Act on the Construction of the Radioactive Waste Management Center ensures the spatial planning determination of the location of the Center and the conditions for implementing the intervention in space, and the preferred location is Čerkezovac on Trgovska gora, where it is planned to build a new building for storing radioactive waste from the Krško Nuclear Power Plant and reconstruct the existing storage buildings for storing radioactive waste generated on the territory of Croatia.
The law also creates the prerequisites for the assessment of the environmental impact of the Center at the Čerkezovac location, as well as its construction if the project is determined to be environmentally acceptable.
In accordance with the interstate agreement with the Republic of Slovenia, Croatia should assume its obligation to ensure the disposal of half of the low- and medium-level radioactive waste generated at the Krško NPP.
A new Energy Efficiency Act was also passed, aligning it with the revised 2023 EU Energy Efficiency Directive. It makes the "energy efficiency first" principle mandatory for the first time in policy-making at national, regional and local levels, as well as in investment decisions in strategic investment projects and large investment projects exceeding EUR 100 million.
Energy efficiency action plans of large cities and counties will have to include plans to reduce energy consumption by 1,9 percent per year in the public sector, energy renovation of 3 percent of the total usable floor area of public buildings, plans for the use of renewable energy sources, and plans for the development of centralized low-temperature heating and cooling plans. The law also assumes that all public lighting in the Republic of Croatia will be energy renovated by 2035.
Amendments to the Electronic Communications Act have been sent to the second parliamentary reading, and several reports have been adopted, on the work of the National Foundation for the Development of Civil Society and the situation in the water services sector and the work of the Water Services Council for 2023, as well as on the work of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts for 2023 and 2024.
The annual reports of the Croatian Science Foundation for 2022, 2023 and 2024 were also adopted.
The Možemo Club's proposed Law on Explosive Substances and the Production and Trade of Weapons, which would further restrict the use of pyrotechnics, ban their use near healthcare institutions and nursing homes, and allow sales only three days a year in specialized stores, did not receive the required number of votes from parliamentarians.
Source: HRT
Photo: HINA/Admir Buljubašić
