ASSESSMENTS

Brazil Considers the Nuclear Option

Aug 23, 2018 | 10:00 GMT

Specialists monitor dials in the control room of the Angra 1 nuclear plant in Angra dos Reis in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state on April 12, 2011.

Specialists monitor dials in the control room of the Angra 1 nuclear plant in Angra dos Reis in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state on April 12, 2011. Brazil is eager to move forward on its atomic program.

(VANDERLEI ALMEIDA/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • Brazil will revive its nuclear energy program as part of a proposal that the government expects to present before Congress later this year.
  • In the absence of any grave threats in South America, Brazil's nuclear program will largely focus on energy, medicine and agriculture, but the country will leave the door open to developing nuclear weapons by mastering atomic technology.
  • The fate of Brasilia's nuclear plans could hinge on October's presidential elections, as one of the leading candidates, Marina Silva, vociferously opposes the atomic program.

For four years, a corruption scandal has kept Brazil down for the count on some of its biggest projects, including a third nuclear energy plant. Now, however, things appear set to change as the country emerges from the corruption probe and stalled construction work resumes on nuclear facilities -- particularly the third nuclear plant. Boasting the world's sixth-largest uranium reserves, Brazil is also eager to attract investments to its uranium-mining industry. In all, Brazil hopes to meet the demand for nuclear plants, construct a multipurpose nuclear reactor and further harness atomic energy for medicine and agriculture. But in turning its face once more to nuclear power, Brazil could also leave the door open to the production of nuclear weapons –- a development that could elicit far more pushback at home and abroad....

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