Brazil opens uranium enrichment plant
Date: 13-Dec-02
Country: BRAZIL
The Brazilian Nuclear Institute, which represents the nuclear energy lobby, said in a statement the facility would make Latin America's largest nation the world's eighth country possessing the enrichment technology.
"The enrichment used to be done abroad, but with this plant, some 95 percent of all the process will be domestic from next year," added a spokeswoman for the institute. She did not provide the exact date when the output would start next year.
The plant in the town of Resende in Rio de Janeiro state cost some $140 million and should save the country about $13 million a year.
Brazil has two nuclear power reactors, which account for about 6 percent of all power consumed in the country, and the Institute is lobbying to complete the construction of a third reactor. In comparison, France's 58 nuclear power plants produce twice as much power as the whole of Brazil.
The reactors of the Angra nuclear power complex are located on the wooded shore of a picturesque bay between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Environmentalists allege the reactors are not safe enough and condemn the expansion plans.
Some government officials and federal power holding Eletrobras (ELET6.SA), whose Eletronuclear unit is responsible for Angra, say nuclear energy is safe, cheap and should be used more, especially with the new technology now in place.
