Brazil considers 60 nuclear plants

Power - Brazil may seek to build 50 to 60 nuclear reactors within the next 50 years to increase the country's supply of electricity, Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao says.

The reactors may generate as much as a combined 60,000 megawatts of power, the minister said Friday at the Angra dos Reis nuclear power station in Rio de Janeiro state.

Brazil is seeking to expand its thermal power generation capacity using nuclear and natural gas-fired plants to complement its hydroelectric system, which provides about 80 per cent of the country's electricity.

"Right now Brazil has about 100,000 megawatts of installed electricity generation capacity. We think that over the next 50 years we want to build about 60,000 megawatts of nuclear capacity," Lobao said.

Brazil also wants to reduce its reliance on Bolivian natural gas.

(Source: Calgary Herald)

Brazil plans to build 50 more nuclear power plants

Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao announced Friday Brazil plans to build 50 to 60 nuclear power plants in half a century, with each having capacity of 1,000 megawatts.

"The general idea is to build one plant per year," he said during a visit to the construction site of Brazil's third nuclear power plant, Angra 3.

The ambitious plan, a priority for the administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has yet to be approved by Brazil's National Council of Energy Policy, he added.

The construction of Angra 3 started in 1984, but was halted for21 years. The decision to resume the project and expand the nuclear program was welcomed by Brazil's industrial sector as a way to prevent an energy crisis in future decades, but environmentalists warned of the problem of the residues storage.

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Angra 1 and Angra 2, both located in the southeastern state of Rio De Janeiro, currently have a combined installed capacity of 2,000 megawatts.

Besides the three plants, four others, two in northeastern Brazil and two in the southeastern part, are due to start operation by 2020.

It is said Brazil's environment ministry will not allow Angra 3to start operation until the residues problem is resolved.

According to Lobao, the construction of Angra 3 is due to be resumed in April 2009 and will take almost five years to complete, at a cost of 7 billion reais (3.7 billion U.S. dollars).

Brazil revives nuclear power plant

A government-controlled firm is forging ahead with plans to resume expansion of Brazil's nuclear power program.

The Brazilian government has authorized the company, Electronuclear, to go back to work on the nation's third nuclear power plant.

Work on the Angra 3 reactor, near Rio de Janeiro, has been stalled for 22 years by a lack of money and political issues.

But the administration of President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva is turning to nuclear power to meet electricity needs that are growing with the country's booming economy.

"Things have changed a lot, and today it's clearer to everyone that nuclear energy has a role to play in the Brazilian electrical system, just like the other forms of producing electricity, which can't be dismissed," said Leonam Guimaraes, an Electronuclear spokesman.

Brazil is the 10th-largest energy consumer in the world, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. It's the third-largest consumer in the Western Hemisphere, behind the United States and Canada.

The two operational nuclear power plants in Brazil supply about 3 percent of the nation's electricity, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The other countries in the Western Hemisphere that use nuclear power to generate electricity are Mexico (where nuclear power generates 5 percent of electricity), Argentina (7 percent), Canada (16 percent) and the United States (19 percent), according to the atomic agency.

France generates more electrical power with nuclear reactors than any other nation (78 percent), followed by Lithuania (72 percent), Slovakia (57 percent) and Belgium (54 percent), the agency said.

Brazil's two reactors went into use in 1985 and 2000. They supply about half the electrical power used in the state of Rio de Janeiro, according to Electronuclear.

Electronuclear plans to begin construction work on Angra 3 in February and hopes that it will generate electricity by 2014, when Brazil will host the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament.

Environmental activists say authorities have not adequately planned an effective response in the event of an accidental release of radiation from Angra Three.

They also warn that building a third plant could adversely affect the environment, but Electronuclear has pledged to comply with each of 60 conditions the Brazilian government set in granting the country a license to restart work on the third reactor.

(Source: CNN)

Brazil: AREVA Awarded Service Contracts for Angra 1 and 2 Nuclear Power Plants

AREVA (Paris:CEI) was awarded six contracts totaling over 45 million euros by Brazilian utility Eletronuclear, to carry out extensive service works on the Angra 1 and 2 nuclear power plants.

With a duration period of three to five years, the scope of the contracts mainly covers works on Angra 2 and comprises key service needs for a nuclear reactor in operation.

AREVA will carry out examination and maintenance operations on the reactors’ mechanical and electrical main components and will provide local support to meet its customer’s needs.

In the framework of these orders, AREVA will implement its proven integrated service concept not only during plant outage but also during operation. AREVA’s comprehensive offer will lower operating costs for Eletronuclear while enhancing the reliability of its plants.

These new successes will further strengthen the cooperation between the two companies in Brazil.

The group already provides services for both Angra plants and, together with Eletronuclear, has been performing the yearly outages for Angra 2 since its connection to the grid in 2001.

(Source: Business Wire)