Alana Gandra
Reporter Agência Brasil

Rio - Brazil's first uranium enrichment factory is ready to be inaugurated. It is located in Resende, state of Rio de Janeiro, where it will be operated by Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil (INB). When the factory goes into operation, at the end of this month, Brazil will be the ninth country in the world with the capacity to enrich uranium on an industrial/commercial scale.

In a first phase, running from now until 2012, the factory will supply some 60% of the enriched uranium needed by the country's two nuclear power plants, Angra I e II. Around 2015, the factory should be supplying 100% of Brazil's enriched uranium. The uranium enrichment factory was built at a cost of US$172 million.

In the past, Brazil has imported enriched uranium at a cost of some US$16 million annually. The technology for the INB factory in Resende was developed by the Brazilian Navy with support from the National Institute of Nuclear Research (IPEN).

Translation: Allen Bennett