This project is not yet fully funded, and is a no go for banks. It is closely tracked by BankTrack.
"Say no to Angra 3" - Greenpeace shirt at protest in Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo, 2005. Source: ECA-Watch.
description
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brief history
Angra-2 is the first and only nuclear power plant to be completed under the terms of the 1975 Nuclear Accord between Germany and Brazil. Angra-2 was commissioned in October 2000 - 25 years after start of construction and 17 years later than scheduled. The overall costs of this project were US$10 billion, three times as much as was initially planned. Angra 2 was designed and constructed by German KWU/Siemens, bought by French State owned Areva. French President Sarkozy and Brazilian President Lula da Silva signed a joint document to cut carbon emissions in November 2009.
what must happen
Any of the banks approached should not finance the Angra 3 nuclear power plant project directly or indirectly through general funding to Eletronuclear.
Brazil is
a developing country where the demand for electricity is expected to grow at
20-25% a year but where the average income is low. The enormous costs associated with nuclear
power means both reactor construction costs and the cost of building an
electricity grid to deliver the power will be passed onto the ratepayer. These costs may be prohibitively high for
many Brazilians, excluding large swathes of the population from access to
electricity.
environment
In the summer of
2004, due to abundant rainfall in the region, the retention pool of the Caetite
uranium mine in northwest Brazil
flooded seven times, leading to a leak of uranium-238, thorium-232 and
radium-226 into the environment.
other issues
Moreover, the Brazilian nuclear watchdog CNEN is not
an independent body, but has direct commercial interests in the Angra 3
project. INB, the group providing the fuel to power Angra's reactors, is a
subsidiary of CNEN. This makes CNEN a supplier with commercial interests and
therefore presents a conflict of interest.
End of April the
financial proposal from banks ended and so far has not been postponed. New meeting between Hermes and Electronuclear may happen before end of 2011.
Société
Générale is leading the discussion and proposed a "scope of work" to
eletronuclear.
Hermes, the
German export credit agency, delivered a pre guarantee at the beginning of
2010. The construction of Angra 3 started again in june 2010.
Brazilian
nuclear utility Eletronuclear has been looking for $1bn from a private partner
to complete construction. However, at $2,100 per kilowatt, Eletronuclear's
estimate dramatically understates the reasonable actual cost to complete
construction, based on recent costs incurred at similar sites in the United States and Europe.
Securing construction funding in Euros increases the financial risk of the
project. The Brazilian real has fluctuated 37% over a one year period compared
to the Euro. This volatility will eventually impact the project's cost.
BNDES, the
Brazilian national development bank approved end of december 2010 a 6.1 billion
brazilian reais loan($3.6 billion) for the financing of Angra 3.
The loan will
cover about 59% of the total costs of the project which is expected to cost BR
9.5 billion ($5.6 billion). Mid-January, Electronuclear announced it has
recieved an offer for $1.99 billion in financing from a pool of french banks to develop Angra 3 nuclear power plant.
Tractebel
- profile Tractebel Engineering is the GDF SUEZ Group's engineering consultancy company for energy and infrastructure. They offer engineering solutions and consultancy services to power, nuclear, gas, industry and infrastructure customers in the public and private markets.
Tractebel Engineering is part of GDF SUEZ Energy Services, one of the business lines of GDF SUEZ.
Oct 21, 2010 - Greenpeace launched a new campaign against banks financing dangerous nuclear power plants, like Angra 3 in Brazil, financed by BNP Paribas. Part of the campaign is this great movie
