Brazil looking to expand nuclear program
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Thursday, November 23, 2006 (Sao Paulo):
Brazil's government intends to build four new nuclear plants and increase oil and petrochemical refining capacity as part of a strategic plan for the energy sector up to 2030.
"Brazil still would remain reliant on hydroelectric power plants for an overwhelming majority of its energy," said Mauricio Tolmasquim, president of the government's energy research agency.
By 2030, hydroelectric power is expected to account for 70 per cent of electric energy capacity compared with the current level of 75 per cent. Tolmasquim said the government will look to promote alternative sources.
Those include four new nuclear plants to be built in the northeast and southeast of the country starting in 2015. Each is projected to have generating capacity of 1,000 megawatts.
The plan also includes the completion of the Angra 3 nuclear power plant in Rio de Janeiro, which has been stuck in the planning stage for a number of years.
Electric energy
Brazil currently has two operating nuclear plants, Angra 1 and Angra 2, with an installed capacity of about 2,000 megawatts. Angra 3 would raise nuclear capacity would reach 3,300 megawatts.
Tolmasquim told reporters in Brasilia that the country plans to add 105,650 megawatts of electric energy capacity between 2015 and 2030 from diverse sources.
Brazil recently raised international concern when it announced it would begin enriching uranium for peaceful purposes but then denied inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency complete access to its centrifuges.
Average electric energy demand is expected to rise by 3.5 percent per year through 2030.
Renewable energy
Also Wednesday, Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras said it planned to spend US$780 million from 2007 to 2011 to develop renewable energy.
"Most of the spending will go toward biofuels, while the remainder will be used for the production of electricity from solar, wind and small hydroelectric power plants," Petrobras chief financial officer Almir Barbassa said.
Brazil already is a leader in alternative fuel with ethanol, which is largely distributed by Petrobras. The country's biodiesel industry is still in its infancy, but is growing fast.
Petrobras also plans a $923-million upgrade to its oil pipeline system in Sao Paulo state.
Construction on new pipeline portions and the recovery of existing parts will begin in the second half of 2008 and take two years to complete. (AP)