PR:What does Radioactive Waste Repository Authority keep secret about the Underground Research Laboratory Bukov?

=> CZECH version of this press release

Press release dated August 9, 2017 http://calla.cz/index.php?path=hl_stranka/tiskovky/2017&php=tz170809.php

What does Radioactive Waste Repository Authority keep secret about the Underground Research Laboratory Bukov?
'''Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (RAWRA) has strengthened doubts as to whether hundreds of millions of Czech crowns, which will vanish into the Underground Research Laboratory (URL) Bukov (situated in the former uranium mine site) in the future, are efficiently spent resources. RAWRA has decided to conceal the fundamental technical and economic study of the implementation of the research program at URL Bukov, which was to prove the suitability of the site for research activities related to a deep geological repository (DGR). Calla appealed against a decision because the arguments put forward by RAWRA - a reference to copyright or a statement that the study is a mere "underlying information" - are not supported by law .'''

The Government has decided about a preparation of the requested study after the regulator State Office for Nuclear Safety (SONS) has also criticized the non-consensual procedure of RAWRA . In particular, doubts are raised by that the geological structure in URL Bukov differs significantly from the other potential sites selected for a DGR in the Czech Republic. In addition, the rock environment in Bukov is very complicated, disturbed, so the underground laboratory project had to be changed twice in a short period of time because of serious difficulties during the excavation. There is also water penetration in a quantity that was not anticipated, and additionally, this water passage is connected to mine sites, which means that such conditions are not suitable for a DGR. Perhaps the project will serve well the second declared purpose – rising awareness and public relations directed at the general public.

However, the question marks also arise over the legality of the decision on the construction of the already completed URL Bukov. The works contract between RAWRA and state enterprise DIAMO as a supplier, which climbed to 107 million Czech crowns, was signed in May 2013, without the government decision to approve the action plan and budget. In December 2016, on the proposal of the then Minister of Industry and Trade Mládek, the government decided to grant another 313 million crowns from the nuclear account without a tender for DIAMO to ensure the operation of URL Bukov until 2019. The total costs of public funds for construction, operation and research by 2030 should be around CZK 1.8 billion.

Edvard Sequens, Energy Consultant of Calla – Association for Preservation of the Environment, said: ' Repository Authority likes to talk about transparency, but in fact, it does the opposite. The secrecy of the tech-economic analysis of URL Bukov is just one of the recent examples. '

Magdalena Sedláčková, Lawyer of Doucha Šikola Advocates Ltd., said:  "The decision by RAWRA to refuse to provide information is purposeful and unlawful because none of these reasons are supported by the Czech Act on Free Access to Information or the Case law." 

 Additional information can be provided by: 
 * Ing. Edvard Sequens, Calla – Association for Preservation of the Environment, email: [mailto:edvardDOTsequensATcallaDOTcz edvard DOT sequens AT calla DOT cz], tel.: +420 602 282 399
 * Magdalena Sedláčková, Lawyer of Doucha Šikola Advocates Ltd., email: [mailto:sedlackovaATdsadvokatiDOTcz sedlackova AT dsadvokati DOT cz], tel.: +420 778 429 368

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