Brazil nuclear plant accident discovered by media
Date: 26-Sep-01
Country: BRAZIL
Author: Andrei Khalip
Government officials played down the gravity of an internal leak of radioactive water at the Angra I plant, 80 miles (130 km) west of Rio de Janeiro in May, saying there had been no need to inform the public;
However, environmentalists and the media took the government to task for hiding facts of the accident.
"Radiation spills in Angra and the government conceals," said a front-page headline in Jornal do Brasil. O Globo daily said: "Information about Angra delayed by four months."
Epoca weekly magazine broke the news earlier this week.
For international environmental watchdog Greenpeace, the spill, which was apparently caused by a human error, and the "hiding of information" only confirmed its fears and concerns about the nuclear program.
"The government is judging for the population what kind of information is important," said Marijane Lisboa, executive director at Greenpeace Brazil. The accident yet again confirms that the nuclear program is extremely dangerous."
Greenpeace has previously expressed concerns about what it calls "a dangerously high level of shutdowns" at Angra I.
On May 28, thousands of gallons (litres) of slightly radioactive water that cools the oldest of Brazil's two reactors, leaked from the main system but was mainly contained by an emergency tank. The plant was shut down for a week.
Officials said the accident, ranking 1 on a 7-point gravity scale, has never posed any danger to the workers or population around the two-reactor Angra complex, which is surrounded by lush tropical forest and a popular bay resort area.
Claudio Avila, head of federal power holding Eletrobras whose Eletronuclear nuclear energy arm runs the Angra complex, said he knew nothing about the accident and complained at "a serious lack of communication" in the sector.
Still, he said that such accidents are only announced immediately if there is a leak outside the plant. "In case of an internal problem, (the) population should be informed later."
NEW OBSTACLES TO EXPANSION?
Although the accident may not have been serious, it is likely to fuel a debate about whether to expand the Angra nuclear complex.
Earlier this year, the government's National Energy Council failed to come to an agreement on whether to build a third reactor there due to objections from the Environment Ministry, which asked for more analysis of the project, saying Brazilians needed "to form an opinion on the subject."
Greenpeace said this could signal a possible moratorium on new reactors. "We understand that a moratorium is being prepared and that it would paralyze all discussions on new reactors for at least two or three years," Lisboa said.
The discussions coincide with an international debate on whether atomic power plants should be phased out, and also with an acute energy crisis in Latin America's largest country.
Advocates of Angra 3 say the complex is safe, clean and insist that a new reactor would reduce the country's dependence on water resources, which triggered this year's power crisis.
Opponents argue the first reactor, built in the 1980s under the nuclear program drawn up by Brazil's military rulers, has a high level of shutdowns, the reactors are too expensive and there is little space to store nuclear waste.
