Rio de Janeiro – The minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, said this Friday (22) that the nuclear program is a priority for Brazil and after “ups and downs,” the country returns to a level “where we can dream.” Albuquerque emphasized that the Angra III power plant work is set to be resumed in 2020: “We’ll probably open Angra III in 2020.”
“For Brazil, the nuclear program is a priority. It’s part of our energy matrix and, for our country’s characteristics, we cannot give up this energy source,” he stressed.
The Brazilian nuclear program started in the 50s. Angra I and Angra II power plants were built and started operating in Rio de Janeiro’s coast in the following decades. The complex is run by Eletronuclear. The nuclear source accounts for around 3% of the power generation in Brazil.
Angra III will be the third power plant of the Central Nuclear Almirante Álvaro Alberto located in Itaorna beach in Angra dos Reis (RJ). According to Eletronuclear, when commercial operations starts, the new unit with capacity of 1,405 megawatts will be able to generate over 12 million megawatts-hour per year, which is enough to supply the cities of Brasília and Belo Horizonte at the same time. With Angra III, the nuclear energy will then generate a power equal to 50% of the consumption in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Over 60% of the Angra III power plant has already been built for almost BRL 10 billion (USD 2.3 billion). To conclude the work, it needs more BRL 15 billion (BRL 3.6 billion) in investment.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
