Cancelling Angra 3 would cost almost as much as completing it, study says
Eletronuclear says a study by Brazil's National Bank for Economic and Social Development has concluded that the cost of abandoning construction of the part-built Angra 3 nuclear power unit could be about BRL21 billion (USD3.7 billion).
The company says the estimated cost of completing the project is put at around BRL23 billion and says that BRL12 billion has already been invested. The study proposes a tariff of BRL653.31 per MWh which Eletronuclear say is lower than the average cost of thermal plants in the region.
The study says the costs of cancelling the long-running Angra 3 project includes BRL9.2 billion to pay off existing financing with Caixa and BNDES, including fines and penalties; BRL2.5 billion for termination of signed contracts; BRL1.1 billion for the return of tax incentives on the import and acquisition of equipment and BRL7.3 billion "opportunity cost of invested capital".
The study, delivered to Eletronuclear on Tuesday, will be sent to the Ministry of Mines and Energy and on to the National Energy Policy Council, which will decide whether or not to complete the plant.
Eletronuclear President Raul Lycurgo said: "This is a crucial step for the continuity of the work and determination of the tariff for the sale of energy that will be generated by the plant. We are confident that the work will soon get under way and that the nuclear sector will once again be thriving in Brazil."
Brazil has two operating reactors - Angra 1 and Angra 2 - which generate about 3% of the country’s electricity. Work on the Angra 3 project - to feature a Siemens/KWU 1405 MW pressurised water reactor - began in 1984 but was suspended two years later, before construction began. The scheme was resurrected in 2006, with first concrete in 2010. However, amid a corruption probe into government contracts, construction of the unit was halted for a second time in 2015, when it was 65% complete.
The project resumed again in November 2022 - at the time of the project's revitalisation, Eletronuclear's aim was to start operations by the end of 2026. However, work halted again in April 2023 after disputes with the municipality of the City of Angra dos Reis over agreements relating to "environmental compensation" payments and also changes relating to the granted planning permission.
Eletronuclear says the unit's generating capacity will be sufficient to supply 4.5 million inhabitants and it will also create around 7000 direct jobs at its peak, in addition to a much larger number of indirect jobs. It also noted that about BRL800 million in Angra 3 equipment was used in Angra 2 and between BRL500-600 million in nuclear fuel, which had been initially purchased for Angra 3, had been used in Angra 2.
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