Bosnia and Herzegovina Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Minister Stasa Kosarac has requested a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to express opposition to Croatia's carrying on with preparations to build a storage facility for radioactive waste on the very border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In a letter sent to media outlets on Thursday Kosarac called on the competent EU institutions to prevent the project for the construction of a nuclear waste storage facility at Trgovska Gora.

The BiH authorities have opposed for years the construction of that facility, which Croatia plans to build at the site of a former barracks in Dvor municipality, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, noting that it would threaten 250,000 people in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Kosarac, a member of Milorad Dodik's SNSD party, says that the EU Delegation in Sarajevo is indifferent to the issue, which is why BiH citizens are losing trust in the EU.

“The lip service by the EU Delegation in BiH is not sufficient,” said Kosarac, explaining that he had been unable to establish direct contact with the competent EU bodies through the EU Delegation, which was why he requested a meeting with Borrell in Brussels.

Kosarac said that BiH is unanimous in its opposition to the project at Trgovska Gora, insisting that Croatia “violates European regulations and standards” in that regard.

“An example of noncompliance with EU regulations is the fact that the planned storage facility is only one kilometre away from an inhabited community in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he said, adding that the best solution would be to continue disposing of spent nuclear fuel in the vicinity of the Krsko nuclear power plant.

Croatia has until 2025 to start managing a part of spent nuclear fuel from the Krsko plant, which is located in Krsko, Slovenia, and which it owns jointly with Slovenia.

Work on an environmental impact study for the project has been underway as has the adoption of other documents that should provide an answer as to whether the former barracks at Cerkezovac is an appropriate location to dispose of nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel.