WRITTEN QUESTION E-3106/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(29 October 2002)

Subject: Serious environmental pollution in the Borska Rek valley in Serbia as a result of the unnecessary use of radioactive waste imported from EU countries in copper mining

1. Is the Commission aware that the Borska Rek river valley near the city of Bor in the east of Serbia, is not only used to store huge mountains of industrial and household waste, as a result of which the river water is black and no trees, shrubs or grass can grow within 10 metres of the river banks, but that it is also where the radioactive waste that Serbia imports from EU countries ends up; trade unions estimate that the average life expectancy of inhabitants in the vicinity of storage and processing, which is conspicuously absent from page 53 of the statistical yearbook for the region, is 48 years of age?

2. Is the Commission also aware that the argument in favour of importing a concentrate contained in radioactive waste is that radioactive material is useful for mining copper ore containing only 0,30 % of copper and that some of this material is used by the mining company RTB established near Bor since 1902. However, this argument cannot be given credence because RTB is not mining the large quantities of deeper high-grade ore that contains 3 % copper, probably because there would then no longer be any justification for the profitable importation of radioactive concentrate?

3. Will the Commission be contacting the experts, Ajdacic and Bogdanovic, who earlier sounded the alarm in connection with the risks to public health and the environment but were then threatened, dismissed and robbed of their instruments, with a view to establishing the true nature and scale of the problem?

4. What is the EU or its Member States doing to make good as far as possible the damage caused near Bor and around the storage sites in Alexinac and Belgrade where radiation levels are high as a result of exports from the EU area? What is being done to compensate survivors financially for the loss of their family members?

Source: Rotterdams Dagblad of 10 October 2002.

Joint answerto Written Questions E-3105/02 and E-3106/02given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(21 January 2003)

From the context it would seem that the origin of the radioactive waste stems from copper mining, which may occasionally give rise to residues with enhanced concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides materials (NORM). NORM materials have been regulated within the Euratom framework of basic safety standards since 1996(1).

In addition, the shipment of radioactive waste between Member States as well as into and out of the Community is addressed by Council Directive 92/3/Euratom(2). This Directive has introduced a system for the administrative supervision and control of such shipments.

In conformity with Article 18 of this Directive, the Commission has prepared periodic reports(3) on the application in the Member States of this Directive. These reports to the European Parliament, the Council and the Economic and Social Committee are based on the information provided by Member States on the implementation of the Directive and the situation regarding shipments within their respective territory.

As regards exports out of the Community, the authorisation procedure, the administrative supervision and control by the competent authorities of the Member States of origin and the country of destination are laid down in Articles 11 and 12 of the Directive.

No shipments of radioactive waste from Member States to Serbia have been reported to the Commission.

In the absence of precise indications as to the origin of the materials and of any notification of shipments of radioactive waste to Serbia, the Commission cannot take any specific action at this moment.

However, the Commission has written to the Member States to obtain more information.

(1) Council Directive of 13 May 1996 laying down basic safety standards for the health protection of the general public and workers against the dangers of ionizing radiation, OJ L 159, 29.6.1996, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 35, 12.2.1992.

(3) COM(2001) 270 final, COM(98) 778 final and COM(95) 192 final.