Brazil's Angra III Construction Delayed Again

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Construction of the continually delayed 1,350-megawatt (MW) Angra III Nuclear Power Plant has been set back again because of the nonfulfillment of almost 60 requirements, including a solution for a waste treatment issue imposed on July 23 by Brazil's environmental regulator Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais. For more information, view related July 28, 2008, news article - Brazil's Long-Delayed Angra III to Receive Construction Permit after Solving Residual Storage Issue.

The state-owned Eletronuclear (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) announced that the civil work scheduled to start in September were postponed to April 2009 with plant start-up scheduled for 2015, a year later than the initial date. Construction will be carried out by the engineering company Andrade Gutierrez (Sao Paulo, Brazil). Civil work began in 1985 but was halted in 1986 because of the lack of funds and a lack of clear policies over the future of nuclear energy. The major part of the equipment is already on-site, and 30% of the infrastructure has been built. Eletronuclear has spent about $750 million on the plant so far, and an additional $1.84 billion will be needed to complete the facility.

In addition to the Angra complex, Brazil's Ministry of Mines and Energy recently announced that it plans to have more than 60 gigawatts of installed nuclear power capacity in the next 50 years. There are four other nuclear power projects currently in more advanced stages. The projects' sites are expected to be chosen in the next few months. Two of the projects could be located in northern Brazil, with start-up dates in 2019 and 2021. The other two could be build in the southeast and begin operation in 2023 and 2025. Each complex will produce about 1,000 MW and have a total investment cost of $500 million.

Eletronuclear, a subsidiary of Eletrobras (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), was established in 1997 to operate and construct nuclear power plants in Brazil. Eletronuclear owns and operates the Central Nuclear Almirante Alvaro Alberto nuclear complex, which comprises Angra I (657 MW), Angra II (1,350 MW) and Angra III (1,350 MW). The complex is located near the three principal state capital cities of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte.

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