巴西已開始興建國內第一座鈾濃縮廠,以生產可供核電廠使用的燃料。伊朗日前因企圖生產鈾能源而受到其他國家的阻撓,質疑伊朗從事核子計劃的最終目的是製造核彈;但巴西已再三向國際社會保證,發展鈾能源是基於工業和商業目的,而非軍事意圖。
「巴西核子工業」5日正式啟動其位於里約熱內盧州雷森迪市工廠設備中的頭兩架鈾濃縮離心機。巴西憲法禁止核能軍事用途,同時該國也已簽署禁止核子擴散條約。至今尚未聽聞美國對巴西的鈾濃縮計畫任何的反對聲浪。
2004年4月巴西政府拒絕讓國際原子能總署(IAEA)檢查員進入雷森迪工廠設備檢查,當時巴國政府聲稱有專利資訊的需要,在部份廠房四周搭起圍牆,並在設備儀器上蓋好帆布。2004年11月,國際原子能總署與巴西政府達成關於查核巴西鈾濃縮設備防護措施原則上的協議。
大約到2015年,該工廠預期將供應巴西100%總量的濃縮鈾。科技部長羅紳迪於3月時表示巴西在未來15年計畫建造7座核能發電廠,其中2座位在巴西東北部,即該國最貧窮的區域。
在運作安格拉1、2號核電廠的「電子核子」公司(Eletronuclear)裡主持並管理計畫與環境的坂本寬(Luis Hiroshi Sakamoto),1月向巴西通訊社政府新聞部表示將花費18億美元和5年時間來完成位在安格拉1、2號反應爐旁、目前部分完工的安格拉3號。
安格拉3號原本按照計畫應在1988年開始運作,雖然已花費7億5千萬美元打造,但是該電廠卻從未完工。
綠色和平組織稱巴西位於雷森迪的鈾濃縮新工廠是倒退的舉措。綠色和平組織核能協調員李奧納迪表示,巴西正在投資一項許多國家逐漸淘汰的科技。
巴西政府正計畫成為濃縮鈾出口國。科技部長羅紳迪去年9月表示該國目前擁有全世界第6大鈾礦藏量,不過一項更詳細的研究則可能將巴西列在全世界第3位。該名部長表示為了在國際市場出售濃縮鈾,勢必得投資該項科技以提高產量,同時也必須修改防礙鈾礦出口的憲法。
Brazil Officially Starts First Uranium Enrichment Facility
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, May 8, 2006 (ENS)
Brazil has inaugurated its first uranium enrichment facility to produce the type of fuel for nuclear power plants that Iran is running into trouble for attempting to produce. There are strong suspicions that the objective of the Iranian nuclear program is to eventually build a bomb, but Brazil has managed to assure the international community its intentions are industrial and commercial, not military.
On Friday, Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil officially launched the first two centrifuges needed for uranium enrichment at a facility in Resende, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilian Constitution bans the military use of nuclear energy, and the country has signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. No objections to Brazil’s uranium enrichment program have been heard from the United States.
In April 2004 the Brazilian government denied access for the IAEA inspectors to the Resende facility; Citing a need to protect proprietary information the government had built walls around parts of the facility and draped covers over equipment. By November 2004, the IAEA was able to reach an agreement in principle with the Brazilian government on a safeguards approach to verify the enrichment facilities in Brazil.
Around 2015, the factory is expected to be supplying 100 percent of Brazil’s enriched uranium. Minister Rezende said in March that Brazil has a plan to build seven nuclear plants over the next 15 years, two of them in the country’s poorest region, the Northeast.
Luís Hiroshi Sakamoto, the director of planning, management and environment at Eletronuclear, the company that operates the Angra 1 and 2 nuclear power plants, told the Agencia Brasil government news agency in January that it will take US$1.8 billion and five years to complete the partly finished Angra 3, located next to the Angra 1 and 2 reactors.
Angra 3 was scheduled to be operating in 1988, but it was never completed although US$750 million has been spent on it.
Greenpeace calls Brazil’s new uranium enrichment factory in Resende a step backwards. Guilherme Leonardi, the coordinator for nuclear energy at Greenpeace, says Brazil is investing in a technology that many countries are abandoning.
The Brazilian government is planning to become an exporter of enriched uranium. Science and Technology Minister Rezende said last September that the country currently possesses the world’s sixth large uranium reserves, but a more detailed study could put Brazil in third place.
The minister said that, in order to sell enriched uranium on the international market, it would be necessary to invest in technology, to raise production, and alter the Constitution, which precludes uranium exports.