Croatia: a small modular reactor in Plomin; Istria strongly opposed.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković confirmed in Parliament that the Government is considering the option of transforming the Plomin Thermal Power Plant into the site for the first small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) in Croatia. This announcement provoked sharp reactions from Istria County Governor Boris Miletić and IDS deputy Dalibor Paus, who say that decisions on such projects cannot be made without the local community

Answering deputy Paus's question about the potential construction of an SMR at the site of today's TE Plomin, the Prime Minister stated that it is an "idea that is being considered." Although the Minister of Economy Ante Šušnjar had previously claimed that there had been no discussion of concrete locations yet, the Prime Minister's answer indicates that Plomin has already entered a phase of strategic consideration.

County Governor Miletić: Istria sees the future in green policies, not in nuclear power plants

Istrian County Governor Boris Miletić quickly reacted, emphasizing that Istria, as the most developed tourist region in Croatia, does not see nuclear energy in its territory.

„I am not a priori against nuclear energy, but I do not see it in the Istria County. The future of Istria we see in renewable energy sources,“ Miletić said.

The county head added that revenues from Istria's tourism account for seven percent of Croatia's GDP, and that decisions on projects affecting the region's identity and security must be made in cooperation with local residents.

What does the new law on the development of nuclear energy provide for?

The Croatian government in March 2026 presented a draft law that should create a legal framework to increase the share of nuclear energy to 30% by 2040. The key points of the plan are:

• Energy security: the goal is to reduce dependence on imports and stabilize electricity prices.
• SMR technology: the plan is to build up to three small modular reactors, and the first units could be ready in about ten years.
• Legal framework: the law does not specify fixed locations, but requires the Government to issue a program of activities within six months for drawing up the Nuclear Energy Development Plan.

Paus: Can the Government build outside the spatial plans?

And Deputy Dalibor Paus noted that the prime minister did not answer the key question: can the state decide on the location of the nuclear plant contrary to the valid spatial plans of Istria County and the Municipality of Kršan? Paus warns that lack of transparency leads to public distrust, which can jeopardize projects of strategic importance.

And while the experts still need to speak their piece on the most suitable locations, Plomin remains at the center of the political battle between the state leadership that leans toward the nuclear option and the local authorities that advocate exclusively a "green" Istria.

Analysis: The NIMBY phenomenon in the Balkan way  

However, we add that the argument of Governor Miletić that Istria is a "tourist region" and therefore cannot have a nuclear plant is a classic NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) argument – which is a huge problem for nuclear projects and a problem that today seems very difficult to resolve. Because the general public can sometimes be in favor of nuclear energy, but local communities fiercely (and almost always extremely aggressively) oppose it as soon as it is announced that a nuclear power plant will be built in their community (Not In My Backyard) – "not in my backyard"). In other words, citizens have a positive attitude toward nuclear energy, but on the condition that it is not in their vicinity (i.e., in their "backyard") – which means that perhaps they actually may not have such a positive attitude toward nuclear energy.

Što se, pak, tiče ostalih argumenata, mi dodajemo: Finland, Slovenia (Krško) and France show that tourism can indeed be developed in parallel with nuclear energy, and we remind that tourism is far less compatible with solar energy which requires millions of hectares to produce an equivalent amount of energy. 

Takođe, premijer Plenković koristi termin “mali modularni reaktori” – ponovo, pretpostavljamo, sa ciljem omekšavanja eventualnih otpora i/ili određene mistifikacije. Stoga podsećamo: iako se to koristi često kao argument, veliko je pitanje da li su mali modularni reaktori inherentno bezbedniji od reaktora velikog kapaciteta u funkciji ukupne snage, ali podsećamo i da operativnih SMR-ova ima samo dva dok se ostali nalaze tek u različitim fazama dizajniranja, što znači da nije za očekivati da se u skorije vreme pojave u masovnoj upotrebi. 

A dodajemo i treću stvar: pominje se konverzija termoelektrane u nuklearnu. To se, bojimo se gotovo sigurno neće desiti zbog inerentnih nedostataka tog procesa i smatramo da se administracije ovog argumenta late ne bi li umirili i odobrovoljili one zajednice koje u ovom trenutku zavise od eksploatacije uglja: konverzija termoelektrana u nuklearne i nema previše smisla jer nije radikalno jeftinija opcija od izgradnje potpuno nove i ne verujemo da će se neki ovakav projekat igde u svetu realizovati.