Rio de Janeiro, May 7, 2008 -- EFE

Brazil plans to move ahead over the next few years with an ambitious nuclear program that includes power plants and an atomic submarine, Science and Technology Minister Sergio Rezende said Wednesday.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's administration has been discussing the entire program in a more open manner, the minister told foreign reporters in Rio de Janeiro.

"The president is close to signing an executive order to create the Committee for the Development of the Brazilian Nuclear Program," Rezende said.

The program would deal with uranium enrichment, planning for new nuclear power plants and expanding the number of professionals trained in nuclear medicine.

The government's agenda calls for several months of discussions before making decisions on new plants and where they will be located, Rezende said.

"Nuclear power is competitive and has a much lower cost than that generated with diesel and coal," the minister said.

The plan calls for strengthening the National Nuclear Energy Commission, completing the first phase of a uranium-enrichment facility, increasing uranium exploration and production, and building components for nuclear power plants.

The Science and Technology Plan projects total capital outlays of 41 billion reais ($24.7 billion) by 2010 for the projects, Rezende said, adding that the figure did not include labor costs.

Brazil's goal is to boost spending on science and technology from the equivalent of 1 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) to 1.5 percent of GDP, the minister said.

"This is a new thing on the Brazilian scene and we are confident that the plan will be executed in its majority," Rezende said.

Brazil plans to use its enormous proven uranium reserves, which rank as the sixth-largest in the world, as the foundation for its nuclear program, and the country also dominates the full uranium-enrichment process through state-owned INB.

The South American nation is now seeking to "intensify the production of nuclear fuel," Rezende said.

The Brazilian government, under a plan crafted by the Energy and Mines Ministry, is studying the construction of up to four 1,000 MW nuclear power plants that would enter service gradually, with completion of the project by 2030.

The minister said he was confident that construction of the Angra III nuclear plant, located in the coastal town of Angra dos Reis, would start this year.

Two other reactors, which were started in the 1970s and took more than two decades to complete, are already in operation at the site.

The nuclear program is a long-term objective that will continue beyond Lula's administration, which ends in 2010.

Regarding the nuclear submarine, he said there were "advanced studies" and discussions with other countries that had dominant positions in the field to agree on a technology transfer program. EFE

ol/hv

News Provided By