Nuclear activities in Brazil
accounts for about 3% of Brazil's electricity. It is produced by two pressurized water reactors at Angra, which is the country's sole nuclear power plant. Construction of a third reactor begun on 1 June 2010, but it is currently stalled. The sole Brazilian company in charge of nuclear energy production is Eletronuclear.
Uranium exploration, production and export in Brazil is under state control through Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil although the government has announced it is ready to involve the private sector in the nuclear fuel industry.
Brazilian nuclear activities
Early years (1930–60)
In Brazil, theoretical research in the field of nuclear energy began at the University of São Paulo in the late 1930s. The following decade, Brazil became a supplier of mineral resources to nuclear experimentation projects in the United States, such as the Manhattan Project.In 1947, Álvaro Alberto, a Navy official and a vocal supporter of nuclear power, wrote the first Brazilian nuclear policy plan to be approved by Brazil's national security council, the Conselho de Segurança Nacional. Implementation of the plan began in 1951, with the establishment of Brazil's national research council, the Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas, and the nomination of Alberto as its president. The institution's general purpose was to promote technological and scientific research in all areas of knowledge and CNPq had specific responsibilities related to the development of nuclear energy; such as promoting research on relevant mineral resources and undertaking the necessary measures to boost the industrialization of nuclear energy.
The path toward developing a Brazilian nuclear sector included the nationalization of nuclear activities and specific compensations for exporting strategic raw materials. Accordingly, Brazil attempted to negotiate trade agreements that, in exchange for Brazilian raw materials, would include provisions to grant easier access to sensitive technologies and training for Brazilian nuclear engineers. This policy granted Brazilian scientists and engineers opportunities to undertake academic exchanges and training in the U.S.
CNPq sought to acquire nuclear technology from the U.S. and other countries. Washington, however, rejected Alberto's request to purchase a cyclotron from General Electric, which would have allowed Brazil to conduct advanced nuclear physics experiments. Alberto also started negotiations for the acquisition of ultracentrifuges from West Germany.
By the mid-1950s Brazil's nuclear program had purchased 3 West German centrifuges for US$80,000. Although the centrifuges arrived in Brazil in 1956, they only became operational in the 1970s.
A Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry established in 1956 uncovered the illegal exports of atomic materials to the United States. It also revealed that Juarez Távora, chief of the military cabinet in the early stages of the Café Filho administration in 1954, acted in accordance with U.S. requests and adopted a new nuclear policy plan whereby the U.S. was considered the privileged partner of Brazil in the nuclear field.
After the investigation was completed, the CPI argued in favor of a more nationalist approach to nuclear policy, resuming the plans advocated by Alberto and the CNPq. The new nuclear plan adopted by recently elected President Juscelino Kubitschek created a National Nuclear Energy Commission under presidential oversight. It also cancelled all the contracts related to atomic minerals exports.
In 1957 Brazil obtained its first research reactor from the U.S. under the "Atoms for Peace" program. IEA-R1, as it became known when it reached the Institute of Atomic Energy in São Paulo, was the first reactor ever to operate in the southern hemisphere. This was followed in 1960 by the research reactor TRIGA Mark 1, located at the Institute of Radioactive Research of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, which was used in training and research activities related to radioisotope production.
1961–72
By 1962 Brazil had built its first indigenous research reactor, the Argonauta, which commenced operations in 1965 at the Rio de Janeiro-based Nuclear Engineering Institute. The Argonauta was an adaptation of a reactor designed by the Argonne National Laboratory in the United States.In the aftermath of the 1964 coup d’état that ousted the popularly elected government, the ruling military devised a nuclear policy based on the purchase of nuclear power plants in order to generate electricity but also create the conditions for an indigenous nuclear industrial complex inside Brazil. In the long term, stated the plan, Brazil would seek to acquire all the technologies necessary to master the nuclear fuel production cycle.
With regard to international standards mandating a limit to peaceful nuclear explosions, the military's nuclear policy affirmed that renouncing the right of independent fabrication of PNEs represented "a price too high to pay", since
Accordingly, in a CSN meeting, President Artur da Costa e Silva voiced arguments in favor of "doing research, mining and building devices that can explode" and added: "We will not call them bombs, we will call them devices that can explode.
In 1968 a new CPI assessed existing mineral resources in Brazil for the nuclear program. Two years later, the parliamentary commission completed its work and concluded that the Brazilian booming industrial growth meant a rising demand of electricity in the country, which confirmed the necessity of nuclear energy.
Also in 1968, the government issued a secret "National Strategic Concept" arguing that the acquisition of nuclear science and technology was a means to overcome Brazil's peripheral position in world affairs. According to this perspective, Brazil could not accept the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, an international accord perceived by Brazil as an instrument to curtail the national development of nuclear energy in non-nuclear weapon countries, which did not solve the problem of nuclear weapons.
After a large economic growth, Brazil invited different companies and consortiums to present projects for the construction of its first nuclear power plant. After receiving five different proposals, Brazil chose the one made by U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Company involving pressurized water reactors. Simultaneously, Brazil started conversations with West Germany and a nuclear cooperation agreement was established between Brasília and Bonn.
While CNEN was finalizing the details of the contract with Westinghouse between May 1971 and April 1972, the United States Atomic Energy Commission approved the supply of nuclear fuel for Brazil's first nuclear power plant, Angra 1. The contract between CNEN and Westinghouse was signed in April 1972 and the construction of Angra 1 began.
1973–78
The military continued to push for development in the nuclear sector. The government attempted to acquire all phases of the nuclear cycle through international cooperation. In 1974, the Brazilian Company for Nuclear Technology became the Brazilian Nuclear Enterprises. Headed by Paulo Nogueira Batista, a career diplomat, Nuclebrás was charged with implementing the nuclear program by promoting the creation of indigenous companies to build parts and offer services for the nuclear plants on the pipeline. While Nuclebrás dealt with implementation and funding, CNEN retained the responsibilities of nuclear planning, regulation and inspection. Additionally, CNEN continued to be the Ministry of Mines and Energy's advisory body for domestic and international nuclear policy.However, after India tested a nuclear device in 1974, the U.S. slowed down and eventually halted nuclear cooperation with Brazil. Also, in the aftermath of the 1973 energy crisis, USAEC made its provision of fuel to third countries subject to availability. This in turn pushed Brazil to accelerate talks with West Germany and France, eventually signing an agreement with the former on 27 June 1975, that established the transfer of operational know-how regarding reactors. The deal represented the largest technology transfer agreement ever signed between an industrialized country and an industrializing one. Bonn committed to export four to eight reactors over a span of 15 years. Likewise, West German firms agreed to construct a complete nuclear fuel cycle in Brazil: uranium prospecting and mining; uranium enrichment ; manufacturing fuel rods; and reprocessing spent fuel rods. For West Germany's nuclear industry, this was the most significant contract ever to be established, at an anticipated value of 10 billion marks. Also, this was the largest single export order in German history.
The deal caused lively international reactions. One of the main reasons for the frenzy was due to the fact that West Germany, an NPT signatory, made a commitment to transfer nuclear technology to Brazil, headed by a military dictatorship that was not party to the NPT. In the years that followed the announcement, Brazil and West Germany were under strong pressure coming from not just the U.S., but also the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and the Soviet Union—countries which supported a restrictive position on nuclear sales and strongly opposed the export of advanced nuclear technology such as fuel reprocessing plants.
In order to overcome the mounting suspicious, and after much negotiation, a tripartite agreement on nuclear safeguards was established between Brazil, West Germany and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Shortly after, President Ernesto Geisel announced the White Book of Brazilian Nuclear Policy. The document, intended to clarify aspects of Brazil's nuclear decisions to the public, affirmed the peaceful nature of the program and justified the nuclear option based on the country's growing energy demand.
In cooperation with West Germany, the construction of the Angra 2 reactor began in 1976. However, the project faced construction delays and cost overruns that prompted public outcry within Brazil, giving way to the creation of another CPI in 1978 that looked into the nuclear deal between Brazil and West Germany.