Rosatom Anticipating Brazilian Nuclear Cooperation Agreement

Brazil expects to reach an agreement with Russia’s Rosatom on cooperation in the Brazilian nuclear sector by the end of 2025, according to Alexandre Silveira, the Brazilian Mines and Energy Minister.

The two sides have begun negotiations on developing a partnership, utilizing Russian experience and seeking investment for exploring Brazil’s mineral potential. Brazil expects to leverage Rosatom’s experience, with its nuclear generation capacity requirements by 2035 estimated at 1.1 GW, with 0.6 GW on land and 0.5 GW from floating NPP capabilities.

Brazil is working on strengthening the nuclear energy chain and advancing development of uranium mining policies and small nuclear reactors, the ministry said. Brazil has the potential to become the third-largest country in the world by uranium reserves. Currently, it ranks seventh in uranium reserves, while only 26% of its subsoil has been explored.

Rosatom has been one of the largest suppliers of isotopic products for Brazil’s nuclear medicine needs for several years. In recent years, cooperation in the nuclear fuel cycle has also been developing. At the end of 2022, Rosatom said a contract had been signed between its Techsnabexport structure, which exports nuclear materials, and Brazil’s INB for supplying enriched uranium products that would be used for the operation of the Angra Nuclear Power Plant from 2023 to 2027.

Brazil is among the countries interested in floating nuclear power units, Rosatom head Alexei Likhachev said: “These are many countries that have a long coastline, say, Brazil or Argentina. These are many countries that have island infrastructure – Indonesia, Malaysia. And these are both southern countries and countries located in cold latitudes.”

According to Likhachev, this prompts Rosatom to make two types of floating nuclear power plants – a northern and a southern version. “In principle, it will be one technological solution,” the Rosatom head summarized.