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Brazil prepares to resume Angra 3 project

Thursday, 11 June 2020

Brazil's Investment Partnership Programme council has approved a plan to complete unit 3 of the Angra nuclear power plant. Created by the government to expand and strengthen the relationship between the state and the private sector, the PPI's main objective is to generate jobs and growth for the country through new investments in infrastructure projects and privatisation.

Brazil prepares to resume Angra 3 project — The Angra nuclear power plant in Brazil (Image: Areva)

First concrete was poured for Angra 3 - a 1405 MWe (gross) pressurised water reactor - in 2010, resuming a project that had first begun in the 1980s before a lengthy suspension. The project was again suspended in mid-2015. Two nuclear power units - Angra 1 and 2 - supply about 3% of Brazil's electricity. The units are operated by Eletrobras subsidiary Eletronuclear.

Following a meeting of the PPI council yesterday, PPI Special Secretary Martha Seillier told reporters in Brasillia that the private partner in Angra 3 must be a minority stakeholder. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had also attended the PPI meeting, she said.

According to Reuters, the business model approved yesterday was devised by state development bank BNDES, and requires a private partner to share the financial burden. BNDES will hire a consultancy to calculate the cost of completing the work.

"Back when we started our studies, there was talk of something in the range of BRL16 billion (USD3.2 billion)," Sellier said, according to Globo.com, adding that further studies would provide an up-to-date estimate.

The planned privatisation of Eletrobras, which excludes the sale of its nuclear subsidiary, has been held up in Congress and further delayed by the coronavirus pandemic until mid-2021.