Brazil to resume nuclear program

[Tender Branson]

PRESIDENT Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva today said Brazil would revive its nuclear program after a 20-year hiatus, releasing funds to complete a nuclear submarine and the country's third atomic power plant.

Construction of the submarine and nuclear plant were stopped 20 years ago.

"If money was lacking, it won't be lacking now," Lula said on visiting the Brazilian Navy's Technological Centre in Sao Paulo.

"I've made a committment to provide the necessary funds so we can complete that project," the president said at the centre, referring to the submarine.

He said finishing the nuclear submarine would cost an estimated $US68 million ($79.18 million) and take eight years.

"And who knows, with a little more (money), we may build it sooner, because its running late," Mr Lula said.

The president also confirmed that construction would resume for the Angra III nuclear plant in Rio de Janeiro state, after the National Committee on Energy Policy approved the project two weeks ago.

"We will complete Angra III, and if necessary, we'll go on to build more (nuclear plants) because it is clean energy and now proven to be safe," Mr Lula said.

"Nuclear energy has been tested and approved in Brazil. It is safe and we have the technology. So why not go for it?" Mr Lula said.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22054717-5005961,00.html

[Tender Branson]

What are you doing if you promise to be the savior of the poor, but you have to govern a country with 50.000 homicides each year, raging drug wars by gangs on the scale of the Iraq conflict in the favelas of Rio, a continuing high unemployment of 10% and millions of exploited landless slaves on the ethanol plants in the back-country as well as uncontrolled deforestation of the Amazon forest ?

You divert the attention from these problems and build an expensive nuclear submarine !

As Lula the President said:

"Why not dream big, and say we want to arrive at the possibility of having a nuclear submarine."

As if Brazil doesn´t have more pressing problems ...

[Sensei]

the funds could definitely go for better causes than this, especially for a "Man of the people" like Lula, who I usually like.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

While I support nuclear power, I question the wisdom of restarting construction after a 20-year hiatus.  Of course, Lula could be planning something similar to the what happened with the building of the four Amphitrite-class monitors by the U.S. Navy in the 1870's.  Given Congress' refusal to fund the building of new ships, Secretary of the Navy Robeson ostensibly had four Civil War era monitors "repaired" starting in 1874, but what actually happened was that the old ships were scrapped and  new ones built.