Some Experts See Brazil on Nuclear Path Akin to Iran

Brazil is preparing to open its Resende uranium enrichment facility, leading some experts to question its commitment to nonproliferation, the Associated Press reported today.

“Brazil is following a path very similar to Iran, but Iran is getting all the attention,” said Marshall Eakin, a Brazil expert at Vanderbilt University. “In effect, Brazil is benefiting from Iran’s problems.”

Brazil cooperates more fully with international inspectors than Iran and is not involved in arms races or border disputes, according to AP.

“Brazil doesn’t cheat on the [Nuclear] Nonproliferation Treaty and it does not exist in an area of high tension,” said David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security.

“My understanding is they have a peaceful nuclear program,” U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday.

However, Brazil’s opposition to unlimited nuclear inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency has led to questions about its intentions, said nonproliferation expert Jon Wolfsthal of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“Brazil is beginning to be perceived as a country apparently wanting to re-evaluate its commitment to nonproliferation, and this is a big part of the problem,” Wolfsthal said.

The Resende uranium enrichment plant is due to open this year. It would be capable of enriching natural uranium to less than 5 percent uranium 235, according to Brazilian officials. Uranium enriched to 95 percent uranium 235 is considered weapon grade.

“If you can enrich to 5 percent, you’re decades away from enriching to 90 percent,” Udayr Dias Goncalves, president of the Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission, told AP. “You need a whole new technology that we don’t have.”

Albright, however, said a project he conducted with Goncalves at the Brazilian Physics Society indicated Brazil’s centrifuges are capable of producing highly enriched uranium (Peter Muello, Associated Press/USA Today, April 21).