Vinca
The Institute for Nuclear Science in the Belgrade suburb of Vinca represents a danger to the public because it houses radioactive waste which has been waiting to be properly stored for 15 years, said Dusko Kosutic, a nuclear physics specialist.
In an interview for the Sept. 12 edition of the Nova daily, Kosutic warned that a large amount of nuclear waste produced in the former Yugoslavia remains stored in two old hangars within the Institute complex, merely 12 kilometers from downtown Belgrade.
“A new hangar, built to safely house such waste, was constructed back in 2009 but it remains empty. This hangar was supposed to store the waste from the first two hangars until it was moved to a final repository,” explained Kosutic, who was a member of the Institute’s team for removing uranium munitions left by the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The nuclear physicist highlighted that the authorities have done nothing to resolve this issue for the past 15 years even though repacking the waste into the new hangar will itself take years, because it requires inventorying the types and quantities of refuse currently in storage.
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