A new nuke plant for Brazil

A third nuclear plant is to be built in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro state, after 23 years. The construction will start over the next few weeks, according to Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva, president of Electronuclear, the state company responsible for thermoelectric energy in Brazil.

The new nuclear plant is part of the polemic PAC – the Growth Acceleration Programme announced in 2007 by Luis Inácio Lula da Silva’s government. Like leading countries such as the UK, the Brazilian government sees nuclear power as a “clean” energy in times of global warming.

Brazil has currently two nuclear plants by Itaoma beach, in Angra dos Reis, which together have the capacity to generate 2,000 megawatts.

The construction of a third plant was started by the military government in the early 80s, but had to be paralyzed due to environmental concerns and suspicion of corruption. Since then, construction firm Andrade Gutierrez has conserved the area at a cost of 10 million dollars per year.

As a reward, it now gets to finish the construction. No public bid was made this time. The government simply kept the former contractor.

Read the rest of this post at Natalia’s blog.