Brazil’s National Energy Policy Council (CNPE) this month authorized financial and environmental studies in connection with a proposed $2.5 billion project to build the country’s third nuclear power station—a 1,350-megawatt plant called Angra III. Though the move resurrects the controversial and long-stalled project, a final decision on a third reactor likely will fall to Brazil’s next president. The CNPE comprises seven government ministers as well as a representative of the power companies in Brazil’s states, a private-energy-sector representative and one civil society representative. In its Dec. 7 decision, the CNPE asked Eletronuclear, the state company that runs Brazil’s two existing nuclear plants (600-megawatt Angra I and 1,250-megawatt Angra II), to prepare the financial and environmental studies. It did... [Log in to read more]