Nuclear activities in Brazil

Nuclear energy accounts for about 3% of the Brazil's electricity. It is produced by two pressurized water reactor reactors at Angra, which is the country's sole nuclear power plant. Construction of a third reactor begun on 1 June 2010 and it should be operational by May 2018. The sole Brazilian company in charge of nuclear energy production is Eletronuclear.
Uranium exploration, production and export in Brazil is under state control through Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil although the government has announced it is ready to involve the private sector in the nuclear fuel industry.

In Brazil, theoretical research in the field of nuclear energy began at the University of São Paulo (USP) in the late 1930s. The following decade, Brazil became a supplier of mineral resources (monazite, thorium and uranium) to nuclear experimentation projects in the United States, such as the Manhattan Project.

In 1947, Álvaro Alberto, a Navy official and a vocal supporter of nuclear power, wrote the first Brazilian nuclear policy plan to be approved by Brazil’s national security council, the Conselho de Segurança Nacional (CSN). Implementation of the plan began in 1951, with the establishment of Brazil's national research council, the Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas (CNPq), and the nomination of Alberto as its president. While the institution’s general purpose was to promote technological and scientific research in all areas of knowledge, CNPq had specific responsibilities related to the development of nuclear energy; such as promoting research on relevant mineral resources and undertaking the necessary measures to boost the industrialization of nuclear energy.

As envisaged by Alberto, the path toward developing a Brazilian nuclear sector included the nationalization of nuclear activities and specific compensations for exporting strategic raw materials. Accordingly, Brazil attempted to negotiate trade agreements that, in exchange for Brazilian raw materials, would include provisions to grant easier access to sensitive technologies and training for Brazilian nuclear engineers. The success of this policy was noticeably limited, but it granted Brazilian scientists and engineers opportunities to undertake academic exchanges and training in the U.S.

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