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Argentine Water Supply Faces Uranium Threat |
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By Marcela Valente*
Water
intended for human consumption may have been contaminated by the
Ezeiza Atomic Center. Experts from the International Atomic Energy
Agency, the World Health Organization and local authorities will
conduct a new assessment.
BUENOS AIRES - Argentine judicial authorities
are investigating cases of uranium contamination around the Ezeiza
Atomic Center, in Buenos Aires province. A married couple who have
been diagnosed with cancer have been accepted as plaintiffs in a
lawsuit.
The first complaint reached the judicial branch in 2000, when residents
of the area sounded the alert about possible "poisoning" of the
water supply with uranium, and blamed the nuclear facility for the
potential health consequences for the nearby population.
"All of the reports recognize there is contamination, and all are
valid. The judge will have to combine the results and reach a conclusion,"
biologist Raúl Montenegro, president of the independent Foundation
for Defense of the Environment (FUNAM), told Tierramérica.
On its web site, the organization says it obtained a report by the
government of Buenos Aires province -- signed by nine officials
and filed in late 2005 -- "in which uranium contamination of underground
water in Ezeiza is acknowledged."
The group also says the document, marked "confidential", admits
that 10 of the 57 Argentine water samples analyzed by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency surpass the maximum allowable limit of "20 micrograms
of uranium per liter, with a maximum value of 34.5 micrograms per
liter."
"Uranium is radioactive and toxic," and can lead to cancer and genetic
malformations, Montenegro said.
"The oncologist told me that there is a direct relation with the
uranium," Antonio Rota said in a Tierramérica interview. The 65-year-old
suffers from lung cancer that has metastasized in the ganglia. His
wife, Beatriz Rodríguez, 62, has breast cancer.
The Ezeiza Atomic Center includes a radioactive waste management
area, with a central deposit for "special irradiated fissionable
material" (can undergo nuclear fission), and a fuel production plant
for two nuclear power plants, where uranium is handled and stored.
The center admitted to uranium contamination in two areas -- Campo
5 and Trincheras -- but assured that steps were taken to remedy
the situation in one case, and that it is in the process of resolving
the other.
The area alleged to be affected involves three districts of Buenos
Aires province: Ezeiza, Esteban Echeverría and La Matanza -- with
a combined population of 1.6 million people.
Federal judge Alberto Santamarina entrusted an investigation to
geologist Máximo Díaz, who found that there exists "important contamination
arising from the activities at the Ezeiza Atomic Center (present
and/or past) that affected subterranean waters at a level that impedes
their use for human consumption."
The Argentine government's Nuclear Regulatory Authority questioned
Díaz's conclusions and expertise. The judge asked for a new investigation,
this time by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a United
Nations body.
The IAEA organized a study for which it brought in experts from
the World Health Organization (WHO) and other independent entities.
The new assessment defended the monitoring capabilities of the Nuclear
Regulatory Authority, but did not find a direct connection between
the uranium in the water and the activities of the Ezeiza Atomic
Center. It stated that cancer mortality rates in the area were no
higher than the national average, and that it had not detected radioactive
contamination, but had found toxins -- from naturally occurring
uranium.
The maximum level of uranium that the WHO allows in water intended
for drinking is 15 micrograms per liter. The IAEA admits that the
levels found in the area in question reach 36 micrograms, but justifies
them in Argentina's mining law, which allows up to 100 micrograms
per liter.
Residents and environmentalists reject that argument. The law establishes
that maximum level for untreated water. But the rules for dangerous
waste sets a maximum 10 micrograms of uranium per liter of water
intended for irrigation.
The Regulatory Authority says that with the 100 micrograms established
under Argentine legislation, there is no radioactive or chemical
contamination: "It is the law now in force."
Montenegro believes "it is unacceptable that the residents drink
water with uranium levels exceeding the WHO standards and higher
than that of irrigation water."
"We are confident that the judge will not give in to pressure,"
said pediatrician Valentín Stiglitz, president of the Esteban Echeverría
Association Against Contamination, a neighborhood organization that
was formed around this contentious issue.
Now the judge will have to issue a decision -- and he will have
in hand the studies, and the testimonies of Antonio Rota and Beatriz
Rodríguez.
* Marcela Valente is an IPS correspondent.
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