Proposed Law on the Fund for the Krško Nuclear Power Plant

The government today proposed a law based on which a Fund for financing the decommissioning and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel from the Krško Nuclear Power Plant would be established.

The adoption of this law as soon as possible has been agreed upon between Croatia and Slovenia, so the government has submitted the legislative proposal for urgent parliamentary procedure. This is a joint obligation of the two countries, which they undertook through an intergovernmental agreement on the regulation of status and other legal relations related to Krško.  Minister of Economy, Labor and Entrepreneurship Branko Vukelić stated that the contracting parties – Croatia and Slovenia – have committed to finance the decommissioning program in equal parts.  The recommendation of this program is that the basis for collecting funds for decommissioning in Croatia and Slovenia should be the total discounted cost of decommissioning and disposal amounting to 350 million euros (nominal amount of 1.6 billion euros). This corresponds to payments of 19 equal annuities of 18.5 million euros (payments from 2004 to 2022), and half of this amount, or 14.25 million euros, should be paid annually into the fund on the Croatian side.

Minister Vukelić mentioned that there were complaints from the Slovenian side that Croatia was not fulfilling this obligation, but in April last year, the government decided by special regulation that the required amount, until the establishment of the fund, would be paid into a special budget account, and so far, 28 million euros have been collected. The funds that HEP has paid so far would be transferred to the fund upon its establishment. The regulation also stipulates that the payment of funds for the years 2004 and 2005 amounting to 218 million kuna will be fulfilled over the next five years, with four quarterly installments paid each year. The fund will be managed by a Management Board of seven members, and the president of the fund will be appointed by the Government of the Republic of Croatia. It is prescribed that the Management Board may entrust the management of the fund’s assets to a Company for Managing Investment Funds. The law designates Hrvatska elektroprivreda d.d. as the obligor for regular payments into the fund’s account, which will make payments quarterly until the final cessation of operations of the Krško Nuclear Power Plant.  (H)