The Construction of the Angra 3 nuclear power plant, stalled since 2015, should be resumed by the end of 2020 with a private partner and there are already three major international groups in the competition.
Leonam Guimarães, president of Eletronuclear, in charge of the Brazilian nuclear program stated that the announcement would be ready by the end of the year and the partner chosen early 2020. The expansion of nuclear energy in Brazil, according to Guimarães, should not be limited to this third unit in Angra.
The market research involved 11 international companies, but three had very active participation and have been negotiating with Eletronuclear for a long time: EDF (France), Rosatom (Russia) and CNNC (China).
EDF has the advantage of owning reactor technology developed by its subsidiary, Framatome, although the Chinese and Russians claim to have more funding capabilities for this 1,400 Megawatt project:
Electronuclear received a visit from a Russian-Chinese fund willing to support nuclear projects in Brazil after Angra 3.
The works of Angra 3, started in 1984 and paralyzed several times, have already cost 7 billion reais.
Eletronuclear estimates that it has already executed 63% of the project, located on the beach of Itaorna, in Angra dos Reis, 200 km from Rio de Janeiro, and it requires an additional 15 billion reals (3,6 Billion USD) for completion.
For now, Angra 3 has two large concrete buildings: one rectangular, reserved for the turbines, and the other, dome-shaped, for the reactor. Angra 3 is located 300 meters from the other units, Angra 1 – in operation since 1984 – and Angra 2, which began operating in 2001.
Both units generate 3% of the energy consumed in Brazil (and 40% of that used in Rio), in a country where three-quarters of the electricity comes from hydroelectric plants.
Eletronuclear expects to start generating electricity in Angra 3 in the second half of 2025. The commercialization will begin in the first half of 2026.
