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Ten years after the NATO bombing of Serbia, concern is rising over a rise in the number of reported cases of cancer. Some 15 tonnes of ammunition fortified with depleted uranium was dropped by way of more than 50,000 bombs and missiles in the 11 weeks of bombing of Serbia in 1999. The targets of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) bombing were 116 locations, mostly in southern part of Serbia and the Kosovo region. The bulk of the 120,000-strong Serbian army was stationed in the south. The NATO campaign, dubbed Merciful Angel, was carried out to end the oppression of about two million ethnic Albanians by the Serb regime. After nine years under UN administration, Kosovo declared independence in February last year.

During the 53rd IAEA General Conference, delegates from the Russian Federation and Serbia signed a trade contract, laying the groundwork for the final repatriation of spent nuclear fuel from the Serbian Institute for Nuclear Sciences at Vinča to the Russian Federation. The Foreign Trade Contract (FTC) is a pre-condition for the spent fuel´s envisioned repatriation to Russia, setting out provisions for the safe and secure transport, reprocessing, storage and subsequent disposal of the high-level waste at Russian facilities. The FTC was signed by Mr. Sergey Kazakov, Director of the Russian Federal Centre for Nuclear and Radiation Safety and Mr. Radojica Pesic, General Director of the Serbian Public Company Nuclear Facilities.

The train car loaded with radioactive scrap metal will be sent back to Bulgaria, the Bulgarian State Railways announced for FOCUS News Agency. As it was announced earlier, elevated radiation levels were registered in one of the cars of a train, transporting scrap metal for Macedonia. The high radiation was registered at the Dimitrovgrad border control point, at the border between Serbia and Bulgaria.

Environment Minister Saša Dragin made the comments at the central event marking the Earth Day in Belgrade. Dragin also said that his ministry and the Smederevo-based U.S. Steel company have signed a USD 40mn contract stipulating that the company will invest the sum in new technologies in the next two years.

"Bulgaria has stopped construction of its second nuclear power plant until it finds a new investor and funds to complete the project, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov told Tuesday's edition of the daily 24Casa. "The country has no money for an atomic power plant," Borisov said. "We will build it when investors come." The government has earmarked 7 million euros (9.25 million dollars) to conserve the construction site at Belene, on the Danube, 180 kilometres northeast of the capital Sofia. The plant was originally to be built by Russian company Atomstroiexport for 4 billion euros. The firm had signed a contract with the previous, Socialist-led government, swept from power by Borisov's conservative GERB party swept in last year's July elections. Borisov last week turned down a 2-billion-euro offer made by Moscow for a stake in the plant, which would have kept the construction work going. Instead, Bulgaria plans to seek a full investor to finish its second nuclear plant, Borisov said. Neighbouring Serbia had also expressed interest in a 5-per cent stake in the project, Borisov said, turning it into "a Balkan, European project.""

Protests have been ongoing for some weeks in K.Mitrovica over a consignment of a suspected radioactive substance. A tanker carrying 70 tons of chemical material from Iran via Turkey, Bulgaria, and Macedonia arrived in Kosovo two months ago. Serbs and Albanians alike are concerned that the consignment could become radioactive if destroyed. The material is currently located at the customs terminal in southern Kosovska Mitrovica.