The Council of the Investment Partnerships Program (PPI) approved on June 10th, the report of the interministerial committee of Angra 3, which recommended the hiring of a company to complete the works of the plant. With the decision, the government abandoned the idea of attracting a private international partner to guarantee the continuity of the project paralyzed since 2015.
PPI’s special secretary, Martha Seillier, explained in a press conference that in the market survey conducted by the government, the interest of potential investors was in participating not as a minority partner, but as as a government contractor, bringing nuclear expertise to the work.
Companies from France, Germany, the United States, Russia, China, and South Korea were among those interested in the proposal. There are currently legal restrictions for the participation of a private partner in the operation of nuclear facilities in the country, making the partnership less attractive along the lines proposed by the government.
According to Mrs. Seillier, the work in the scope of the PPI is concluded. The National Energy Policy Council will define the contracting of an EPC for the continuity of the Angra 3 work. The government does not yet know how much the job will cost but maintains the completion date in 2026. In a note released after the meeting, the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) informed that “the final proposal for the resumption of the project must be submitted for consideration by CNPE and approved by Eletronuclear and Eletrobras, in their respective governance bodies.”
The inter-ministerial committee formed by the Ministries of Economy and Mines and Energy, the Office of Institutional Security, and the PPI secretariat to define the model for completing the undertaking was created after the qualification of the nuclear plant in PPI in July 2019.
The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) will hire specialized consultants to carry out studies that will confirm the cost of completing the work and define the contracting model. The amount initially estimated by the government was in the order of R $ 16 billion (USD 3 Billion). This amount would add to the R $ 12 billion (USD 2,24 Billion) spent since the plant was started. The process will be monitored by the CNPE and the interministerial committee, which had the deadline for work extended by 180 days.
