A ship that is often under the eye of international environmental associations and the authorities of Western countries due to the nature of the cargo it carries, the Danish freighter "Puma" is a frequent guest in the Port of Bar, but according to the claims of state authorities, it has never loaded any radioactive material here.
The exact opposite is claimed by Croatia's neighbors, who have a much stricter and more efficient regime of control over everything that happens in their territorial waters, but also in parts of the Adriatic close to Croatia that are under the sovereignty of other countries.
So, for example, on page 27 of the Annual Report on the implementation of established policies, plans and regulations in connection with the supervision and protection of the rights and interests of the Republic of Croatia at sea for the year 2012, which was submitted by the central coordinating body of that country for the supervision and protection of the rights of Croatia at sea, it is also stated that at the beginning of August last year, the Croats were vigilantly following the movements of the ship 'Puma' in Montenegrin territorial waters.
Excerpt from the Croatian report on monitoring the situation at sea
"On August 7, 2012, radar tracking of the ship 'Puma', the flag of the Kingdom of Denmark, with a cargo of nuclear waste from the port of Bar - Montenegro to the port of Port Said - Egypt was carried out," reads the Report of the Command of the Croatian Navy and Coast Guard of the Republic of Croatia from January 15, 2013, which is part of the above-mentioned document.
However, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Transport of Montenegro claims that the "Puma" was not even in our waters at the time when the Croats tracked her by radar in sailing from Bar to Otranto.
When asked by "Vijesti" how many times and when that ship sailed into our territorial sea and ports, and what it loaded and unloaded in them, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Transport provided "Vijesti" with data from the Port Authority of Bar, according to which "Puma In August of last year, she didn't even stop by the port at all.
Data from the Port Authority of Bar show that a Danish freighter entered Bar last year on May 7, 2012 and loaded "482 tons of explosive material - class 1" and sailed on the same day.
Last year, the "Puma" sailed into Bar on November 12 and sailed the very next day, loading "24 tons of explosive material - class 1".
According to the law on the transportation of dangerous substances, under class 1, which has three subclasses, explosive substances are considered, while radioactive substances are classified as class 7. The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Transport also states that the "Puma" sailed into Bar once in 2010 and once during 2011, as well as twice this year - on October 1 and 5, when on both occasions she loaded 11 tons of "explosives - class 1".
"The motor ship 'Puma' had a total of six sailings to our ports in the period 2010-2013, and on that occasion it did not load or unload radioactive cargo", claim the Ministry led by Ivan Brajović, noting that no other such materials were transported a merchant ship calling at our ports.
"There was no transport of radioactive materials from other countries by sea to or from ports in Montenegro," the Ministry is categorical.
On the other hand, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which, according to the Law on the Transportation of Hazardous Materials, approves permits for the transportation of hazardous materials issued by the Environmental Protection Agency of Montenegro, avoided directly answering the question of what the "Puma" was transporting during its earlier visits. , but were only based on the last two stays of that ship in Bar.
"According to the information of the Police Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, when sailing into the port of Bar, the ship 'Puma' already had dangerous substances on board, and explosive substances (filling for mines, hand-held anti-tank mines) were loaded for the purpose of export," it says. by the answers of the Information Service of the MUP, without specifying the nature of the "dangerous substances" that were already on the "Puma" when that ship came to the bar to load weapons and military equipment.
According to data from AIS, "Puma" sailed from Bar to Port Said in Egypt at the beginning of October, then went to China through the Suez Canal, and that ship is currently at anchor in the port of the capital of the Philippines, Manila.
"Puma" sailed into Bar during 2010 and 2011.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs informed "Vijesti" that the Directorate for Emergency Situations of that department has granted 14 approvals for the transport of radioactive materials in Montenegro so far this year, while a total of 22 more were granted in the previous two years.
These consents mostly refer to the transport of radioactive substances or devices used in medicine for radiological therapy and diagnostics, that is, for the needs of CETI and a few other companies.
In addition to CETI, applicants for consent to the transport of radioactive materials in Montenegro in the past three years were the companies "Farmont", "Voxel", "Termoelektro-mont", Brewery "Trebjesa", Institute for Development and Institute for ferrous metallurgy.
According to the Law on Protection from Ionizing Radiation and Radiation Safety, the "import of radioactive waste as well as the processing, storage and disposal of radioactive waste of foreign origin on the territory of Montenegro, as well as the circulation of nuclear material on the territory of Montenegro" is prohibited in Montenegro.
Transport usually by road
From the Environmental Protection Agency of Montenegro (EPA), "Vijesti" was told that in 2010 they issued two licenses for import, two licenses for export and five licenses for the use of radioactive materials.
In the following year, eight licenses were issued for import, three for export and seven licenses for the use of radioactive materials, while last year 15 licenses for import, 4 licenses for export and two licenses for the use of radioactive materials were issued.
"So far this year, the EPA has issued 10 permits for import, two permits for export and one permit for the use of radioactive materials. In Montenegro, there is a very small number of legal entities or entrepreneurs who, according to current regulations, have a permit for the sale of radioactive materials.
In our country, the transport of radioactive materials occurs more often in road transport compared to other types of transport. "The most common direction of movement of means of transport used to transport radioactive materials is on the route: border crossing Dobrakovo - Bijelo Polje - Podgorica," claims the EPA.
They were transporting Serbian nuclear waste
Although many present it as a "specially built ship for transporting radioactive materials", the small 73-meter long Danish ship "Puma" is not that at all. It is an ordinary general cargo and container ship built 20 years ago in Denmark, but which has a "Hazarous A" classification, which means that it often carries dangerous cargo.
The "Puma" was recorded on the pages of the world media in January 2012, when that ship suffered an accident near the coast of Norway in the Barents Sea.
Through the damaged valve on the underwater part of the ship, the sea began to penetrate into the "Puma" engine room, to which the Norwegian Coast Guard responded to the call for help.
A special metal patch held by powerful magnets was placed at the site of the damage, so the ship was temporarily repaired so that it could continue its journey to the nearest shipyard.
All this happened immediately after the "Puma" in the Russian port of Murmansk unloaded a cargo of 333 tons of nuclear waste - spent nuclear fuel from the research reactor of the Serbian Nuclear Institute Vinca.
This cargo from Serbia, with extremely strong surveillance and security measures, was brought by train across Hungary and Slovenia to the Slovenian port of Kopar, where a small Danish freighter with a displacement of less than 2.000 tons loaded it and took it to Murmansk.
In that Russian port, Serbian nuclear waste was loaded onto a special train and taken to the famous Russian radioactive waste treatment facility Majak in the southern Urals.
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