PR:The mayors and residents of the municipalities are calling on the Prime Minister Sobotka: Stop geological surveys for a deep geological repository

=> CZECH version of this press release

Press release of the Platform Against Deep Repository dated March 23, 2017

Stop geological surveys for a deep geological repository
'''Platform Against Deep Repository addressed the Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka with a call to suspend the current confused siting process for a deep geological repository. The Platform believes that first it is necessary to agree on and to accept the necessary rules and legal guarantees. The Platform contacted the Prime Minister just when the Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (RAWRA) revised its procedure again and appealed against the decision of the Ministry of the Environment, which did not extend the validity of the RAWRA’s exploration permits.'''

As a result of the RAWRA’s errors, exploration areas for the geological surveys in selected sites do not exist any longer and the necessary surveys have not been conducted in their entirety. Despite that RAWRA still intends to select the site in 2018 for further and deeper geological work based on only partial data. However, geological criteria and related safety criteria for site selection are clearly challenged by this decision. Not only the state approach raises the distrust in transparency of the process, but also the uncertainty that the selected site would guarantee the best available safety for hundreds of thousands of years.

We do not yet have the new programme for radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel management approved by the government, which would honestly compare and consider all of the risks and benefits of feasible solutions. The solution, which will be given preference to, should have the least impact on the environment and on the lives of people in affected communities.

Preparation of, for many years promised, the Act to strengthen the rights of municipalities was postponed until long after the election dates because the Ministry of Industry and Trade had failed to explain its government partners its importance. Thus, another site selection by RAWRA is supposed to happen again with no better guaranteed rights to municipalities and citizens in affected sites.

To support its objectives, the members of the Platform Against Deep Repository have decided to organize a third annual nationwide Day Against Repository on Saturday April 22, 2017. Once again, all seven sites in the Czech Republic will host a series of public events.

 Further information can be obtained from: 
 * Petr Klásek, Mayor of Chanovice and a spokesman for the Platform Against Deep Repository, tel.: +420 606 745 795, [mailto:obecDOTchanoviceATemailDOTcz obec DOT chanovice AT email DOT cz]

 Annex:  The Platform Against Deep Repository’s Open Letter to the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Bohuslav Sobotka

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