Lula resumes nuclear program to make Brazil ‘world power’

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday relaunched the country’s nuclear program, promising to complete a nuclear submarine and a third atomic power plant both mothballed 20 years ago.

“Brazil could rank among those few nations in the world with a command of uranium enrichment technology, and I think we will be more highly valued as a nation — as the power we wish to be,” Lula said at the navy’s Technological Centre in Sao Paulo.
“If money was lacking, it won’t be lacking now,” Lula said. Finishing the nuclear submarine would cost an estimated 68 million dollars over eight years, he said.

“And who knows, with a little more (money), we may build it sooner, because it is running late,” Lula said, 20 years after the project was abandoned.

He also confirmed the government would complete the Angra III nuclear plant in Rio de Janeiro state, after the National Committee on Energy Policy approved the project two weeks ago.

“We will complete Angra III, and if necessary, we’ll go on to build more (nuclear plants) because it is clean energy and now proven to be safe,” Lula said. The plant will cost 3.5 billion dollars over five and a half years, he said.

“Nuclear energy has been tested and approved in Brazil. It is safe and we have the technology. So why not go for it?” Lula said.

Two weeks ago Lula said the country’s energy demand was growing at five percent a year. He said the government had to assure investors that there will be no energy shortage after 2010.

Times of India