Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Nuclear Regulation Cutbacks Condemned

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 16 2004 (IPS) - The Argentine office of the environmental watchdog group Greenpeace has called on the government to normalize the operations of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority, an independent body created in 1987 to regulate and monitor nuclear power plants and supervise the transport of radioactive materials. In late 2001, the government reduced the Authority's board from six to just three members. The posts that were eliminated were the ones that the 1987 law reserved for individuals designated by Congress.

Since then the board has been operating with just three people, and now the government has named retired general Raúl Racana to head the agency.

''We ask that the complete board be reinstated and that the designation of the military officer be avoided in order to prevent the Authority's loss of autonomy,'' Greenpeace spokeswoman Mariana Walter told Tierramérica.