MEMORANDUM TO: VLADIMIR KOTLIAR Secretary, Commission of ...

MEMORANDUM
TO: VLADIMIR KOTLIAR
Secretary, Commission of Experts
The United Nations Office at Geneva
FROM: PROFESSOR M. CHERW BASSIOUNI
Member & Rapporteur on the Gathering and Analysis of the Facts,
Commission of Experts
DATE: SEPTEMBER 23, 1993
RE: YOUR REQUEST ABOUT INFORMATION CONCERNING NUCLEAR
WASTE IN THE TERRITORY UNDER THE CONTROL OF "SERBIA
KRAJINA"
1. As early as January 30, 1992, there were media reports of Croatia's plan to use
Serbian inhabited territory in Western Slavonia, Banija and Kordun for storage
of nuclear waste.' A report broadcast by the BBC, citing the Belgrade daily
Vecernje Novosti, alleged that Croatia intended to build a nuclear power plant
with German assistance at Dalj, a town on the Danube. According to the report,
Croatia would deliver electricity to other European nations to subsidize the cost
of the plant. The report also states that Croatia intended to store its own as well
as German nuclear waste in Western Slavonia, Banija and Kordun.
2. A December 23, 1992 BBC broadcast, again citing Vecernje Novosti, reported
that the Republic of Croatia had planned 12 nuclear waste dumps in Western
Slavonia and the "Republic of Serbia Krajina" ("RSK").2 Allegedly, the dumps
were planned to be used to deposit nuclear waste from the Krsko power plant
which was built by the former Yugoslavia and is now shared by Croatia and
Sla~onia.~ It was reported that these dumps were also to serve as storage for
'Other Reports on the Conflict in Croatia; Belgrade Daily says Croatia Planning Nuclear Sites in
Serb Areas, THE BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION, January 30, 1992.
20ther Reports on Elections; Belgrade Paper Protests over Croatia Plans to Dump Nuclear Waste
in Serb Areas, THE BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION, December 23, 1992.
31HRLI Database Incident #S1970 reports that this plant was attacked by the JNA to intimidate the
local population. The report does not indicate a date nor the extent of the damage to the power plant.
See IHRLI Document #015182.

nuclear waste from Germany, Austria, and other Western European countries.
According to the report, "RSK" "Foreign Minister" Slobodan Jarcevic wrote to
the Secretary-General to bring attention to the fact that Croatia had been dumping
its own as well as other European nation's nuclear waste in UN Protected Areas
of "RSK" for several months.
3. The BBC again reported, on January 18, 1993, that the "RSK" news agency,
Iskra, announced that organs of "RSK" had certain evidence that Croatia had
earmarked areas of Western, Slavonia as nuclear waste sites.4
4. Another report dated March 6, 1993 by the BBC, citing Tanjug, stated that
Croatia had created a plan to store nuclear waste in areas completely or
predominantly populated by Serbs.' Some of these regions are 'controlled by
UNPROFOR. It was alleged that Croatia had already been secretly dumping
nuclear waste in UNPA Sector West. According to the report, the head of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's permanent mission in Geneva, Vladimir
Pavicevic, submitted extensive documentation about Croatia's intentions and
activities to the Director of the Centre for Human Rights, Mr. Brahima Fall, as
well as to the co-chairmen of the Geneva conference on the former Yugoslavia.
One of the documents reportedly submitted by the FRY mission was a report on
the storing of nuclear waste by the Croatian Government in a communication that
Government made at a scientific symposium that was held in Tucson, Arizona.
5. We do not have in our database the documents referred to in this memo.
4UNPROFOR Refises RSK Request for Aerial Photography of Western Slavonia Villages, THE
BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION, January 18, 1993.
'UNHCR and Other Aid Reaches Serbian Krajina, THE BRITISH BROADCASTING
CORPORATION,
March 6, 1993.