Brazil Nuclear Update

Just off the wire from Agencia Brasil:

Rio - The president of the Nuclear Energy Commission (Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear), Oldair Gonçalves, says that there are concrete chances for the approval of a revised National Nuclear Program which will make it possible for the country to restart its nuclear energy program before the end of the year. "The government understands that this is in the strategic interest of the nation," declared Gonçalves.

Minister of Science and Technology, Sergio Rezende revealed that he had raised the issue at a recent cabinet meeting and that president Lula agreed that it was important for the country. Rezende said that the standstill in the nuclear energy sector was one of the consequences of the situation the country was in when Lula took office. "We had to take some bitter medicine to get the economy back on a sound basis, putting off investments, among them nuclear energy," he said.

Rezende added that it would be a grave historical error to discard nuclear energy technology. He pointed out that the Angra 3 nuclear power plant, as well as other power plants, are part of an existing program. "I hope we can approve a [revised] program this year and get back to work in this area," said the minister.

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