In 2009, the state-owned Eletronuclear company, based in Rio de Janeiro and with offices in Brasilia, opened a branch in Recife, Pernambuco. Its plans at that time were to build a nuclear power plant along the coast somewhere between Salvador, Bahia and Recife, Pernambuco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pernambuco state government initially planned to locate the power plant near Porto de Suape, in the Recife metropolitan region, according to media reports. However, that location was discarded due to geological instability. Without no viable location found on the coast, the banks of the S\u00e3o Francisco River began to be considered for the project; considering, in addition to the available water, characteristics such as low population density (ten inhabitants per square kilometer), the existence of a power grid \u0336 of the Companhia Hidrel\u00e9trica do S\u00e3o Francisco (Chesf) \u0336 and the geological stability. A site was selected on the border between the municipalities of Bel\u00e9m do S\u00e3o Francisco and Itacuruba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between 2009 and 2011, Eletronuclear technicians visited the site to prepare studies and, considering the 2030 National Energy Plan, an eight square kilometer site along the river\u2019s edge was allocated for the plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Central Nuclear do Nordeste [the Northeast Nuclear Complex], as the project was named, would have space for up to six reactors, although the initial project called for only two. With six, it would have a 6,600 megawatt capacity and annual gross production of 50.58 million megawatts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2011, Eletronuclear (a subsidiary of Eletrobras) released a report that indicated that the location was the best available option in the Northeast. The Pernambuco governor at the time, Eduardo Campos, of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), supported the idea. However, article 216 of the state constitution prohibited the use of nuclear energy until all other possible sources had been exhausted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Due to legal hurdles at the time, construction of the plant became impossible. However, the subject was raised again in 2019, after the Secretary of Energy Planning and Development of the federal Ministry of Mines and Energy, Reive Barros, at an event in Rio de Janeiro, mentioned that the \u201csoon to be released\u201d 2050 National Energy Plan would likely endorse the construction of new nuclear power plants, in addition to proposing the completion of Angra 3. The president of Eletronuclear, Leonam Guimar\u00e3es, specifically mentioned the municipality of Itacuruba, indicating that there were already viability studies for the plant construction at a cost of 30 billion reais.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A proposed constitutional amendment, PEC n\u00ba 09\/2019 submitted by state representative Alberto Feitosa (Solidarity Party), sought to alter the Pernambuco state constitution to allow nuclear plant construction in the state, which expanded the debate and mobilizations about the power plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Indigenous peoples, the Pankar\u00e1 and the Tux\u00e1, currently reside in the areas that will be impacted by the plant. They were not previously consulted about the project, as required by International Labour Organization Convention 169, which had been ratified by Brazil. Around 300 Pankar\u00e1 and 78 Tux\u00e1 families will have their traditional ways of life affected if the project proceeds, especially fishing in the S\u00e3o Francisco River. The project has also interfered with progress of the administrative demarcation of the Pankar\u00e1 Serrote dos Campos Indigenous Land, and recognition of the territorial rights of the Tux\u00e1 in Itacuruba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 11 October 2019, Leonam Guimar\u00e3es and senator Fernando Bezerra Coelho, (Brazilain Democratic Moviment (MDB), leader of the Bolsonaro government in the Senate, introduced the details of the Itacuruba project to Pernambuco Governor Paulo C\u00e2mara, Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), who said he was at least open to discussion. The federal attorney in Pernambuco (PR-PE) then began preparations to investigate the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Links:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
correia, Mariama.2019.PEC que abre caminho para usina nuclear em Itacuruba divide governistas na Alepe. In<\/em>: Marco Zero<\/em>. Recife, 11 out.Dispon\u00edvel em:https:\/\/marcozero.org\/pec-que-abre-caminho-para-usina-nuclear-em-itacuruba-divide-governistas-na-alepe\/<\/a>. <\/strong>Accessed: 20 Nov. 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n mariz, Carlos Henrique. 2011. A rota da expans\u00e3o da energia nuclear brasileira. 2\u00ba Semin\u00e1rio Nacional de Energia Nuclear<\/em>. Rio de Janeiro. Dispon\u00edvel em:https:\/\/www.slideshare.net\/blogdejamildo\/o-documento-oficial-da-eletronuclear<\/a>. Accessed: 20 Nov. 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n santos, Maria Carolina. 2019. Itacuruba se mobiliza contra usina nuclear no sert\u00e3o nordestino. In<\/em>: Marco Zero. <\/em>Recife, 20 jun. Dispon\u00edvel em: https:\/\/marcozero.org\/itacuruba-se-mobiliza-contra-usina-nuclear-no-sertao-nordestino\/<\/a>. Acessed: 20 Nov. 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n valadares, Jo\u00e3o. 2019. Contra usina nuclear, \u00edndios buscam at\u00e9 o papa. In: Folha de S.Paulo<\/em>. S\u00e3o Paulo, 30 nov. Dispon\u00edvel em: https:\/\/www1.folha.uol.com.br\/mercado\/2019\/11\/contra-usina-nuclear-indios-buscam-ate-o-papa.shtml<\/a>. Acessed: 20 Nov. 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 2009, the state-owned Eletronuclear company, based in Rio de Janeiro and with offices in Brasilia, opened a branch in Recife, Pernambuco. Its plans at that time were to build a nuclear power plant along the coast somewhere between Salvador, Bahia and Recife, Pernambuco. The Pernambuco state government initially planned to locate the power plant … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"coauthors":[20],"class_list":["post-1054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conflicts"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umoutroceu.ufba.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umoutroceu.ufba.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umoutroceu.ufba.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umoutroceu.ufba.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umoutroceu.ufba.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1054"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/umoutroceu.ufba.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1277,"href":"https:\/\/umoutroceu.ufba.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054\/revisions\/1277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umoutroceu.ufba.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umoutroceu.ufba.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umoutroceu.ufba.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1054"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umoutroceu.ufba.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}