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FUNAM publicly denounced pressures from INVAP, the argentine company that signed a contract with Australia for the sale of a nuclear reactor.
FUNAM made this formal accusation before the investigative committee of the Senate of Australia. This was also done internationally.

The contract between INVAP and ANSTO, which is kept secret, provides for the importat of spent nuclear fuel form Australia to Argentina. FUNAM stated that article 3 of Argentina´s Law 25.018 “considers it radioactive”, and that is why “the contratc well as the possible entrance of radioactive waste would violate article 41 of the Argentine Constitucion.

Córdoba (Argentina) and Sydney (Australia) November 29^th , 2000. The Environment Defense Foundation from Argentina (FUNAM) publicly announced the pressures that it is receiving from INVAP, an estate company that is formed by CNEA and the government of Rio Negro.- INVAP subscribed on July of this year a contract with ANSTO of Australia for the building of a nuclear reactor in Lucas Heights (Sydney). After a careful investigation FUNAM discovered that a provision which was kept secret up to this moment provided for the possible entrance of spent nuclear fuel from Australia "for its processing in Argentina". "Unfortunately, indicated the President of FUNAM Biologist Raul Montenegro, "the citizens of our country never learned about this provision. They recently learned that Argentina would receive radioactive waste from Australia when we made this fact public during a press conference. Even then INVAP continues to keep the contract secret. The public officials of both countries say that the other side demands it. It is time that we all learn the contents of the contract because the health and future of many argentine people is at stake. The Parliament and the Executive Power of Argentina can do this”.

The possibility of illegality of the contract was taken before the Senate Inquiry of the Australian Federal Government on the 29th of September and in mid October. The history is recent. FUNAM, after checking the present legislation in Argentina, found that according to Article 3 of the National Law of Radioactive Waste Management 25018 "the spent fuel that is to be imported is in reality radioactive waste, and as such, cannot enter the country because Article 41 of the National Constitution expressly prohibits it". The President of FUNAM Biologist Raul Montenegro said that “the objective of the import is to process the spent fuel in Argentina, not to reprocess it. Such processing will be performed by the Atomic Energy Agency of Argentina, main owner of INVAP. They will transform the Australian pack of highly concentrated and highly radioactive waste into less concentrated radioactive waste. Melt and dilute techniques will be certainly used. Uranium 235 and Plutonium 239 will be not recovered”. “What varies”, said Montenegro, “is the concentration of such mix of highly radioactive isotopes. All the processed waste will be returned to Australia in two ways. One, the less radioactive one, that is the metallic part of the fuel, encased in cement. The other portion, the most radioactive and dangerous one in glass. This less concentrated and vitrified waste is called LLIL, long lived intermediate level waste. Under such format they can enter ‘legally’ in Australia”.

Unfortunately, the role of informing that FUNAM has, and which is internationally recognized, was not accepted by INVAP. "While the Senate of Australia gave us all kinds of immunity to present our arguments, INVAP launched in Argentina, not in Australia, a pressure campaign and intimidation by post. Based on newspaper articles which appeared in Australia, not in the documents we presented to the Senate, INVAP threatened us to sue us legally for damages. More recently INVAP's attorney, after underlying that that legal action is for an 'undetermined amount' of money, expected us to accept a private mediation in the city of Buenos Aires, 700 kilometers from our headquarters”, said Biologist Raul Montenegro.

"This is pressure. It doesn't have a different name. That is why we accused them before the Australian Senate which gave us immunity in that country and now we do it at the international level. Estate owned companies like INVAP must learn to live with those who think differently. We do not like to have our Constitution violated nor to have secret contracts which place people's health and ecosystems in danger with shipments of extremely radioactive waste. That is why this has to be spelled out. The spent fuel that could leave Sydney and could arrive to Buenos Aires has the same radioactive materials that Chernobyl spread. Workers at the docks of Sydney and Buenos Aires and people living in towns through which radioactive containers would cross should be asked what they think about INVAP-ANSTO contract”. Due to its secrecy “both in Australia and Argentina workers of the docks and people from affected cities were never noticed about the risks of such movement of highly radioactive waste”, said Biologist Raul Montenegro.

He added that INVAP "considers that both the contract which was signed in Australia as well as the anticipated import of radioactive waste is legal according the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of Argentina. Our opposition has four main indisputable points. First, INVAP signed a contract that can damage thousands of Argentine citizens without previously having consulted them. In second place, according to Article 3 of the Argentine Law 25018 what would come from Australia is radioactive waste. In third place Article 41 of the Argentine Constitution prohibits the entrance of radioactive waste. And in fourth place according to Article 1207 of the Civil Code any contract entered upon in another nation to violate the laws of the country is null." Montenegro maintained that if " we keep strictly to the content of the law what INVAP and several public officials did would be illegal. It does not matter that the entrance of the waste is in the future. It doesn't matter also that this is temporary. They signed this possibility in the contract. There are no crimes and little crimes. Only crimes. It would befitting to investigate, if public officials did not fulfill their obligations and even if there was an abuse of authority. Article 248 of the Penal Code of Argentina is not for decoration".

FUNAM repeated that if the both the contract and the possible importation of spent fuel are made viable "this would be an ominous precedent. The clear will of those who wrote Article 41 of the Constitution would be mocked by a play of words. Argentina, which until today was closed to the import of radioactive waste, would be open and available. It would be enough for the radioactive waste of other countries to enter with the label of spent fuel. Beyond the plans of INVAP and CNEA, those of us who know about the risks of this radioactive waste say no to their entrance. Because they are illegal and dangerous".

FUNAM recently made public that if the contract signed between INVAP and ANSTO is clinched "Argentina would be open to the entrance of nuclear spent fuel from Brazil, something that was already foreseen in the Tandem Cycle Project. A second risk is the building of an international repository like Pangea”.

Sources: FUNAM (Córdoba, Argentine), november 2000.

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