BRAZIL-CHINA: Developing World Giants Talk Nuclear Cooperation

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 26 2004 (IPS) - The possibility of nuclear cooperation between Brazil and China, discussed during President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s six-day visit to Beijing, has Brazilian experts thinking of opportunity, but environmentalists warn of greater potential for disaster.

New energy ties between the giants of Latin America and Asia – one with large uranium deposits, the other with plans to build 11 nuclear power plants over the next 10 years to meet the electricity demands of its enormous population and fast-growing economy – has awakened dreams and fears.

For that reason, Brazilian Minister of Science and Technology, Eduardo Campos, underlined Wednesday that no agreement has been reached yet and that Brazil has no plans to become an exporter of uranium.

An official statement issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology sought to correct what it called distortions in news reports based on an interview Campos gave in Shanghai. According to the press, Brazil was negotiating an agreement for the sale of non-enriched uranium to China.

The communiqué confirmed that Campos met with Chinese authorities in Beijing to discuss possible advances in scientific and technological cooperation, in areas like space, biotechnology, bioinformatics and nuclear energy.

But the minister clarified that ”Brazil does not participate in the international trade involving uranium ore.”

The Chinese government had expressed interest in acquiring non-enriched uranium and Brazil’s know-how and technology in enriching uranium.

Brazil is also in the midst of reviewing its nuclear energy policy, a process that is centred on a study that is to be completed within the next three months.

Only after a new nuclear energy programme is designed will the country be able to make decisions involving cooperation, which would be limited to ”countries that respect international regulations.”

The issue is expected to come up for discussion once again in August, when China’s Committee on Science and Technology for Industry and National Defence will send a mission to Brazil.

The Chinese government also expressed an interest in Brazil’s participation in the construction of 11 new nuclear power plants in the Asian country.

Brazil possesses the know-how for enriching uranium through “ultracentrifugation”, but does not yet produce the fuel needed by its two nuclear power plants, so it still relies on imports.

A bilateral agreement with China could provide ”decisive leverage” for the development of the nuclear energy industry, which comprises the entire nuclear fuel cycle, the construction of new power plants and the production of equipment, Aquilino Senra, professor of Nuclear Engineering at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, told IPS.

The ideal would be for Brazil to supply enriched uranium, due to the added value, but sales of yellow cake, which is produced in the first phase of processing uranium ore, ”could be justified as a means to obtain the necessary resources for developing the industry,” said the expert.

Brazil has the sixth largest uranium reserves in the world, but could move up to third place if it expands exploration efforts, which so far cover just 30 percent of its national territory, says Carlos Lessa, president of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development.

The country could thus produce nuclear fuel with its own uranium, with an advantage over industrialised countries that only possess the technology. In addition, Brazil has the capacity to build nuclear power plants at competitive costs with competitive technology, according to Senra.

China is interested in Brazilian uranium as well as its nuclear engineering for its lower costs and competitive technology, the professor said. Brazil could then become an important player on the international market for that sector, estimated to be worth 20 billion dollars a year.

This Chinese-Brazilian marriage would have commercial, economic and even geopolitical impacts, says Senra. Added to the aerospace cooperation between the two countries – considered a successful model to be followed by other nations of the South – it is building up the weight of the bloc of big developing countries in the international arena.

Environmentalists, however, have reacted negatively to the possibility of a uranium agreement, saying it favours the development of that sector and the construction of nuclear power plants in Brazil, therefore increasing the threat of ecological disaster.

The business deals emerging during Lula’s visit to China are “absurd”, Kathia Vasconcelos Monteiro, coordinator of Friends of the Earth-Brazil, told IPS.

In addition to the nuclear energy deal is the Chinese coal that Brazil will import under an agreement between corporations in the two countries. It is a setback that contradicts “the vision for sustainable development” that was expected from the Lula administration, she said.

“We are going in the opposite direction of the rest of the world” by fomenting nuclear power, which other countries are abandoning, said Sergio Dialetachi, spokesman for the environmental watchdog Greenpeace-Brazil.