The Workers Party government of Brazil had denied the IAEA entry to the plant earlier this year. The new agreement grants the UN agency access to the pipes and valves of the machinery at the plant, but not parts of the centrifuge system that Brasilia says are based on original and proprietary technology, the New York Times reported October 20.

Under the banner of “nonproliferation” of nuclear weapons, the IAEA has been Washington’s tool in the U.S. rulers’ efforts to pressure Brasilia to curtail its production of nuclear fuel to expand the country’s electrification. Neither the U.S. government nor the UN agency accused the government of Brazil of intending to produce weapons-grade uranium. But they warned Brasilia that blocking IAEA agents would set a precedent that the governments of Iran, north Korea, or others could follow.

Washington’s line of attack was provided “scientific” backing with the publication of “Brazil’s Nuclear Puzzle” in the October 22 edition of Science magazine, a journal published by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. “The rest of the world should help the United States convince Brazil… to be a good nuclear citizen,” states the article. The Wisconsin Project operates under the auspices of the University of Wisconsin, and is funded by Washington and private foundations.

The authors of the Science article, Liz Palmer and Gary Milhollin, write that with its current capacity the Resende plant, near Rio de Janeiro, has the potential “to make five to six implosion-type warheads per year.” This figure could grow to as high as 60 within a decade, they claim. They warn that the Resende plant’s capacity to produce enriched uranium “confers what is known as ‘breakout capability’—the power to make nuclear weapons before the world can react.”

Most worrying to the Science authors is that any UN concession to Brasilia “will set a precedent for Iran and for any other country that decides to build an enrichment plant” while a signer of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

In response to the Science article, Brazil’s science and technology ministry stated, “The weakness of the arguments and frivolity of the claims can only be due to disinformation or bad intentions.” Noting that uranium for nuclear arms must be enriched to 90 percent, compared to the 3.5 percent enrichment at Resende, the president of the country’s National Nuclear Energy Commission said, “We simply do not have the technology” to produce weapons-grade uranium.

“The article was not based on any scientific calculations,” said Edson Kuramoto, president of the Brazilian Association of Nuclear Energy, according to Reuters. He said the space needed to produce weapons-grade uranium would be much larger than exists at Resende.

There are two nuclear power plants in Brazil now, and the government is considering building a third. Resende will supply centrifuges for the other nuclear facilities. In November 2003 the Brazilian government launched “Electricity for All,” a program to provide power to 2 million rural households without access to electrical power.
 
 
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