Tiny Uruguay Wants to Go Nuclear, while Giant Brazil Stalls, and Stalls, and Stalls...

May 19 (EIRNS)--Uruguay's Industry Minister Jorge Lepra and Beno Ruchansky, head of the National Electricity Transmission Agency, left for Finland May 11 with clear instructions from President Tabare Vasquez to study the possibility of building a nuclear plant in Uruguay. The two ministers were scheduled to visit the nuclear plant in the Finnish city of Rauma, whose 1500-1600 MW generating capacity is exactly what Uruguay would need to supply electricity to its population of 3 million people. According to a source quoted by ADNMundo May 12, Vasquez is anxious "to advance in the development of nuclear energy."

In Chile, there is also growing support for developing nuclear energy, as seen in the May 15 meeting in Santiago of the Chilean-Russian Inter-Governmental Cooperation Commission where it was a top agenda item. The same day, the University of Santiago sponsored a seminar entitled "Nuclear Energy in Russia." Several Russian nuclear scientists who spoke at the event detailed Russia's technological advances in the nuclear field, particularly emphasizing its ability to build small reactors able to supply electricity to cities of 300,000 people.

The glaring omission when it comes to forward motion in this area is Brazil, which already has two functioning nuclear plants but whose President Lula won't make the command decision required to end the paralysis caused by a raging factional fight--as well as by his current obsession with biofuels. For a year or more, reports have periodically surfaced saying the government is "very close" to deciding to finish the Angra III nuclear plant, whose completion was stalled years ago. Yet no decision has been announced. Science and Technology Minister Sergio Resende is a vocal proponent of the nuclear program, but is opposed, among others, by Environmental Minister and Al Gore admirer Marina Silva, who says Brazil can do just fine with hydro, wind and biomass. On May 16, Reuters reported on comments by Secretary of Energy Planning and Development at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Marcio Zimmerman, who weighed in on the side of nuclear energy. He emphasized that Brazil needed between four and eight nuclear plants between now and 2030, and added that the country's National Energy Plan contains provisions for their construction. "I think nuclear energy will become reality," Zimmerman said. "The world has awakened" to the need for it. "It's an option that the country has to develop for the future."