IAEA: Brazil Could Be
More Ambitious In
Nuclear Program
International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA)
Director General Mohamed
El Baradei said on
Thursday that Brazil's
nuclear program has
"modest" targets and
that the country could
be more ambitious in
producing nuclear power.
El Baradei made a speech
after visiting Brazil's
uranium enrichment
plants operated by
state-owned Nuclear
Industries of Brazil (INB)
in Resende, Rio de
Janeiro state, where
fuel is produced for the
country's two nuclear
power plants located in
Angra dos Reis.
After a meeting with
Brazil's Foreign
Minister Celso Amorim on
Wednesday, the IAEA
director expressed his
belief in the peaceful
nature of the local
nuclear program and
classified the Brazilian
government's target for
nuclear programs as
"modest."
The government plans to
increase nuclear power's
share in the country's
total energy consumption
from the current 2
percent to 5.7 percent
till 2030.
INB directors informed
El Baradei that, in
order to achieve the
goal, the government
will build another
nuclear power plant in
Angra dos Reis, as well
as eight new small
units.
El Baradei said Brazil
could be more ambitious
than that, once it
relies on the necessary
raw material and the
technology to enrich
uranium.
"Brazil's per capita
electric power
consumption equals one
third of developed
countries' consumption.
There is still a lot to
be done in Brazil. It is
necessary to use all
types of energy
available," he told the
local press.
The 2005 Nobel Prize
winner also said he was
not worried about the
government's plans to
build other nuclear
power plants.
"We have been watching a
great expansion of
nuclear power use all
over the world,
especially due to the
concern generated by
climate change and to
the competition for oil
and gas," he said
"What is important is to
have guarantees that
nuclear power will be
used within high
security levels and
exclusively for peaceful
purposes. Our inspectors
are here all the time,
working side by side
with the Brazilian
authorities," he added.
El Baradei is the first
foreigner to watch
Brazil's centrifuges
used to enrich uranium,
which was developed with
100 percent Brazilian
technology.
The plant has been in a
"pre-operational" phase
since 2006. It is
expected that, till
2010, it will produce
about 60 percent of all
the enriched uranium for
the two existing nuclear
power plants.
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