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The president of Brazil's Nuclear Energy Commission (Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear), Oldair Gonçalves, says that there are concrete chances that Brazil restarts its nuclear energy program before the end of the year.
That will depend on the approval of a revised National Nuclear Program. "The government understands that this is in the strategic interest of the nation," declared Gonçalves.
Minister of Science and Technology, Sergio Rezende revealed that he had raised the issue at a recent cabinet meeting and that President Lula agreed that it was important for the country.
Rezende said that the standstill in the nuclear energy sector was one of the consequences of the situation the country was in when Lula took office.
"We had to take some bitter medicine to get the economy back on a sound basis, putting off investments, among them nuclear energy," he said.
Rezende added that it would be a grave historical error to discard nuclear energy technology. He pointed out that the Angra 3 nuclear power plant, as well as other power plants, are part of an existing program.
"I hope we can approve a [revised] program this year and get back to work in this area," said the Minister.
At the moment, Brazil has two operational nuclear power plants, Angra 1 and Angra 2, both built with German technology. Both power plants are located on the southern coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro. Angra 1 generates 520 MW and Angra 2 generates 1,080 MW.
Agência Brasil
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