Brazil Joins the Very Closed Uranium Enriching Club

At the moment, when anyone mentions nuclear program, all eyes turn to Iran and its dispute with the United States and the European Union. The problem is that there are strong suspicions that the objective of the Iranian nuclear program is to eventually build a bomb.

The Brazilian nuclear program does not have that problem. According to Carlos Freire Moreira, a director at Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil, which will be operating Brazil’s first uranium enrichment factory in Resende, Rio de Janeiro, the program is exclusively industrial and commercial, and will supply the country’s nuclear power plants with fuel.

Moreira points out that Brazil is a signatory to all the nuclear non-proliferation treaties and that the Resende factory will be overseen by the Brazil-Argentina Nuclear Energy Application Agency. He also reports that Brazil presently has a good relationship with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Aquilino Serra, a researcher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, says that when the Resende factory goes into operation the only international concern will be with possible competition from a new player in the restricted field of uranium enrichment.

The plant is ready to go into operation any day now. The only consideration seems to be to find a date in which Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva can be present for the starting ceremony.

Serra says Brazil should not have any problems with inspections, as long as they take place within the framework established, which offer Brazil protection for its processing technology.

Serra points out that the Brazilian factory will enrich uranium by 5%, which is the limit for industrial/commercial purposes. "In order to make a bomb, you have to enrich to 95%," he explains.

Agência Brasil

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil Gets 21 Heads of State for Arab-South American Summit

Ten leaders from South America and 11 from Arab countries were committed, up until ...

Brazil’s Vaccine for Foot and Mouth Disease Is Effective, Says International Lab

The vaccine used in Brazil to immunize cattle against hoof and mouth disease protects ...

Brazilians Want Foreign Trade Policy That Will Make Them Competitive

The main suggestion presented by Brazilian businessmen who operate in foreign trade in Brazil ...

Obama Increases Pressure on Brazil to Get Boeing’s F-18 Fighter Planes

The United States is still very interested in selling 36 F-18 fighter planes to ...

Brazil’s Embraer Delivers 60 Jets and Gets 78 New Orders

Embraer, Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, announced the delivery of 60 aircrafts in the first half ...

Soon All Soybean Will Be Transgenic in Brazil

Nearly half the 58 million tons of soybeans that Brazil expects in its next ...

Want Democracy? Fight Misery, Brazil Tells the U.S

When the U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, brought to the OAS meeting that ...

A Nine-Point Policy to Rescue Brazil’s Youth

At the inauguration of the Young Voices encounter in Brazil, the National Youth Secretary, ...

Putin in Brazil: Plenty of Nice Words, But Beef Ban Is Still On

On Monday, November 22, during the official visit of Russian President, Vladimir Putin, Brazilian ...

Brazilian Banks Grow 130% Charging Customers 74 Different Fees

A just-released Brazilian Central Bank report shows that over the last ten years Brazilian ...