Friday, 14 March 2025
An international tender was held for the contract, with the lowest price being the judgement criteria, subject to technical prerequisites being met, with Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil (INB) planning to increase the frequency of such contracts through international tenders.
INB said: “Conversion is the only stage of the nuclear fuel cycle that INB does not perform and consists of transforming yellowcake into uranium hexafluoride (UF6), a compound that has the property of transforming into a gaseous state at low temperatures. The enrichment stage is performed in the gas form. INB’s Enrichment Plant is being implemented in stages at the Nuclear Fuel Factory in Resende, with an annual installed capacity to meet approximately 70% of the need for enriched uranium required to recharge Angra 1.”
INB added: “The final processed product will be returned, by December 2027, in the form of UF6 (uranium hexafluoride) enriched to 4.25% and will be used in the manufacture of nuclear fuel, which supplies the Angra dos Reis nuclear power plant.”
Background
Brazil has two nuclear reactors, Angra 1 and 2, which generate about 3% of its electricity, and a third under construction. It has the goal of becoming self-sufficient in fuel for its nuclear power plant.
Uranium-235 (U-235) is the main fissile isotope of uranium and occurs at a concentration of about 0.7% in natural uranium. Standard fuel used in today’s operating light water reactors uses low-enriched uranium (LEU), with enrichment levels up to about 4.8% U-235.
INB announced last year it was to resume exploration for uranium in the country after a 40-year hiatus. According to World Nuclear Association, exploration in the 1970s and 1980s showed that Brazil has reasonably assured resources of 210,000 tonnes of uranium. However, there has been little investment in exploration since the mid-1980s.
The country’s three main deposits are: Pocos de Caldas in Minas Gerais state, where a uranium mine closed in 1997; Lagoa Real or Caetité in Bahia state, which has been operating since 1999; and Itataia, now called Santa Quitéria, in Ceará state, where the production of uranium as a co-product with phosphate is planned. Uranium has been mined in Brazil since 1982, but the only operating mine is INB’s Lagoa Real/Caetité mine, with a capacity of 340 tU per year. The mine has known resources of 10,000 tU at 0.3%U.
In 2022, Brazil produced 43 tU. All mined uranium is used domestically, with conversion and most enrichment taking place abroad – according to World Nuclear Association, conversion has usually been carried out in France and enrichment in Europe or the USA. The country’s uranium requirements are currently about 339 tU per year.
