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ABSTRACT
Narratives about Brazil's nuclear program are distorted by supporters and critics alike. In Brazil, the national nuclear infrastructure is undergoing a period of expansion, with plans to build new nuclear power plants and industrial-scale fuel production facilities. While Brazil's leaders herald the nuclear sector as a triumph for indigenous science and technology, foreigners view the nuclear program as a dangerous legacy of the military regime. This discrepancy becomes even more apparent in discussions about the ongoing construction of Brazil's first nuclear powered submarine. Brazil's military touts the submarine as a symbol of political status, economic growth, and military might. But from abroad, the military's involvement in nuclear development is considered unnecessary, worrisome, and even irresponsible. These narratives—often incomplete or selective—have polarized discussions about Brazil's nuclear submarine program and caused considerable political antagonism during safeguards negotiations. This article works to dispel myths, highlight legitimate concerns, and explain historical perspectives that shed light on some difficulties that can be anticipated in future negotiations.
Notes
1. IAEA, “The Structure and Content of Agreements Between the Agency and States Required in Connection with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,” INFCIRC/153, June 1972.
2. Alvaro Rocha Filho and João Carlos Vitor Garcia, Renato Archer: Energia Atômica, Soberania, e Desenvolvimento [Renato Archer: Atomic Energy, Sovereignty, and Development] (Rio de Janeiro: Contraponto, 2004), pp. 49–52.
3. Ibid., p. 85.
4. Ibid., p. 62.
5. Fernanda das Graças Corrêa, O projeto do submarino nuclear brasileiro: Uma historia de ciencia, tecnologia, e soberania [Brazil's nuclear submarine project: A history of science, technology, and sovereignty] (Rio de Janeiro: Capax Dei, 2009), pp. 21–25.
6. Filho and Garcia, Renato Archer, pp. 91–92.
7. Ibid., p. 62, translation by the author.
8. Ibid., pp. 140–141.
9. Ibid., pp. 91–100.
10. Corrêa, O projeto do submarino nuclear brasileiro, pp. 27.
11. Filho and Garcia, Renato Archer, pp. 76–77.
12. Ibid., p. 102.
13. Ibid., pp. 99–100.
14. Ibid., pp. 96–97.
15. Tania Malheiros, Brasil, A Bomba Oculta: O Programa Nuclear Brasileiro [Brazil and the Secret Bomb: Brazil's Nuclear Program] (Rio de Janeiro: Grypus, 1993) pp. 29, 42–43.
16. Michael Barletta, “The Military Nuclear Program in Brazil,” Center for International Security and Arms Control (California: Stanford University, 1998), p. 5.
17. Malheiros, Brasil, A Bomba Oculta, pp. 43–44.
18. John R. Redick, “Nuclear Illusions: Argentina and Brazil,” Henry L. Stimson Center, Occasional Paper No. 25, December 1995, <www.acamedia.info/politics/IRef/StimsonC/redick.pdf>.
19. Sebastião do Rego Barros II, interview with Matias Spektor, Fundação Getúlio Vargas Centro de Pesquisa e Documentação de História Contemporânea do Brasil in Rio de Janeiro, February 19, 2009, <www.fgv.br/cpdoc/historal/arq/Entrevista1594.pdf>.
20. Corrêa, O projeto do submarino nuclear brasileiro, p. 40.
21. Matias Spektor, interview with author, Fundação Getulio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro, August 14, 2012.
22. Mitchell Reiss, Bridled Ambition: Why Countries Constrain their Nuclear Capabilities (Washington DC: The Woodrow Wilson Center, 1995), pp. 47–49.
23. Corrêa, O projeto do submarino nuclear brasileiro, pp. 45–52.
24. Ibid.
25. Barletta, “The Military Nuclear Program in Brazil,” pp. 19.
26. Ibid.
27. José Domingos Teixeira Vasconcelos, De Angra a Aramar: Os Militares A Caminho da Bomba [From Angra to Aramar: The Military Regime on the Path Toward the Bomb] (Rio de Janeiro: Centro Ecuménico de Documentação e Informação, 1988), p. 33.
28. Ibid., pp. 61–62.
29. Malheiros, Brasil, A Bomba Oculta, pp. 96–101.
30. Ibid., p. 99.
31. IAEA, “Brazil: A Country Profile on Sustainable Energy Development,” April 24, 2006. <http://tinyurl.com/bqfucts>.
32. Flaminio Fantini and Raimundo Costa, “A Epopéia do Urânio [The Epic of the Uranium],” ISTOE Independente, April 13, 1988, pp. 46–54.
33. Ken Conca, Manufacturing Insecurity: The Rise and Fall of Brazil's Military Industrial Complex (Boulder: Lynne Reinner, 1997), p. 195.
34. Vasconcelos, De Angra a Aramar, p. 70.
35. Reiss, Bridled Ambition, p. 56.
36. Ibid.
37. Leonam dos Santos Guimarães, interview with author, Eletronuclear in Rio de Janeiro, August 2012.
38. Redick, “Nuclear Illusions: Argentina and Brazil,” p. 9.
39. Barletta, “The Military Nuclear Program in Brazil,” p. 4.
40. Malheiros, Brasil, A Bomba Oculta, pp. 68–82.
41. Barletta, “The Military Nuclear Program in Brazil.”
42. José Goldemberg, interview with author, Instituto de Eletrotécnica e Energia in the University of São Paulo, August 29, 2012. Goldemberg visited the site in 1991, and said he found a “block of pure graphite.”
43. João Roberto Martins Filho, “O Projeto do Submarino Nuclear Brasileiro [Brazil's Nuclear Submarine Project],” Contexto Internacional 33 (Rio de Janeiro: PUC, 2011), p. 283.
44. Fantini and Costa, “A Epopéia do Urânio,” pp. 46–54.
45. Ibid.
46. Ibid.
47. Malheiros, Brasil, A Bomba Oculta, p. 73.
48. Conca, Manufacturing Insecurity, p. 197.
49. Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva, “Defense and Nuclear Energy,” presented as guest lecture at the Brazilian Naval War College on September 17, 2012.
50. Mark Hibbs, “Germans Say Brazil Developing Two Production Reactors,” Nucleonics Week, July 27, 1989, p. 4.
51. Albright, “Brazil Comes in From the Cold,” p. 15. Brazilian officials I interviewed (including José Goldemberg) claimed that they did not know anything about these transactions.
52. Malheiros, Brasil, A Bomba Oculta, pp. 83–84.
53. Vasconcelos, De Angra a Aramar, pp. 61–62.
54. Leonardo Attuch, Saddam, O Amigo do Brasil: A História Secreta da Conexão Bagdá [Saddam, Brazil's Friend: A Secret History of the Baghdad Connection] (Rio de Janeiro: Qualitymark, 2003), pp. 48–49.
55. IAEA, “Report on the twenty-second IAEA on-site inspection in Iraq under Security Council resolution 687 (1991), 1–15 November 1993,” Report S/1994/31, <www.iaea.org/OurWork/SV/Invo/reports/s_1994_31.pdf>.
56. Malheiros, Brasil, A Bomba Oculta, p. 122.
57. Mark Fitzpatrick, Nuclear Black Markets: Pakistan, AQ Khan and the Rise of Proliferation Networks, a Net Assessment (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2007), p. 58.
58. James Brooke, “Brazil Uncovers Plan by Military to Build Bomb and Stops It,” New York Times, October 9, 1990, <www.nytimes.com/1990/10/09/world/brazil-uncovers-plan-by-military-to-build-atom-bomb-and-stops-it.html>.
59. Albright, “Brazil Comes in From the Cold,” p. 14.
60. Redick, “Nuclear Illusions: Argentina and Brazil,” p. 13.
61. José Goldemberg, interview with author, Institute of Electrotechnic and Energy of the University of São Paulo, August 29, 2012.
62. Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva, interview with author, Eletronuclear in Rio de Janeiro, August 23, 2012.
63. Matias Spektor, interview with author, Fundação Getulio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro, August 14, 2012.
64. José Goldemberg, interview with author, Instituto de Eletrotécnica e Energia in the University of São Paulo, August 29, 2012.
65. Marcos de Azambuja, interview with author in his home in Rio de Janeiro, August 23, 2012.
66. Matias Spektor, interview with author, Fundação Getulio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro, August 14, 2012.
67. José Goldemberg, interview with author, Instituto de Eletrotécnica e Energia in the University of São Paulo, August 29, 2012.
68. Albright, “Brazil Comes in From the Cold,” p. 14.
69. José Goldemberg, interview with author, Instituto de Eletrotécnica e Energia in the University of São Paulo, August 29, 2012.
70. Filho and Garcia, Renato Archer, pp. 128–29.
71. Redick, “Nuclear Illusions: Argentina and Brazil,” p. 17.
72. Ibid.
73. Filho and Garcia, Renato Archer, pp. 130–31.
74. Redick, “Nuclear Illusions: Argentina and Brazil,” p. 25.
75. Martins Filho, “O Projeto do Submarino Nuclear Brasileiro,” p. 288.
76. Sebastião do Rego Barros II, interview with Matias Spektor.
77. Corrêa, O projeto do submarino nuclear brasileiro, pp. 28–29.
78. Reiss, Bridled Ambition, pp. 62–63.
79. Redick, “Nuclear Illusions: Argentina and Brazil,” p. 39.
80. IAEA, “Model Protocol Additional to the Agreement(s) Between State(s) and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards,” INFCIRC/540, September 1997.
81. Leonam dos Santos Guimarães, interview with author, Eletronuclear in Rio de Janeiro, August 2012.
82. Ibid.
83. Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva, interview with author, Eletronuclear in Rio de Janeiro, August 23, 2012.
84. Marcos de Azambuja, interview with author in his home in Rio de Janeiro, August 23, 2012.
85. Ibid.
86. Corrêa, O projeto do submarino nuclear brasileiro, p. 62.
87. Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva, interview with author, Eletronuclear in Rio de Janeiro, August 23, 2012.
88. Corrêa, O projeto do submarino nuclear brasileiro, p. 62.
89. Conca, Manufacturing Insecurity, p. 188.
90. Flaminio Fantini and Raimundo Costa, “A Epopéia do Urânio,” pp. 46–54.
91. Ibid.
92. Leonam dos Santos Guimarães, interview with author, electronic correspondence, July 2013.
93. Brazilian Federal Senate, Relatório Final da Commissão Parlamentar Mista de Inquérito Destinada a Apurar o Programa Autônomo de Energia Nuclear, Tambem Conhecido Como ‘Programa Paralelo,’” Compiled by Senator Severo Gomes (Brasilia, 1990), pp. 50–75. The transcript of the congressional testimonies and final conclusions: <www.senado.gov.br/atividade/materia/getPDF.asp?t=66808&tp=1>.
94. Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva, interview with author, Eletronuclear in Rio de Janeiro, August 23, 2012.
95. Martins Filho, “O Projeto do Submarino Nuclear Brasileiro,” p. 143.
96. Ibid., pp. 289–90.
97. Ibid., p. 288.
98. Junia Gama, “Militares festejam reajuste e mais verbas [The military celebrates the fiscal readjustment and increased budgets],” O Globo, September 16, 2012.
99. Roberto Jayme, “França e Brasil assinan accordo militar [France and Brazil sign military accord],” Correio da Manha, September 7, 2009.
100. Sarah Diehl and Eduardo Fujii, “Brazil's New National Defense Strategy Calls for Strategic Nuclear Developments,” Nuclear Threat Initiative Issue Brief, October 30, 2009, <www.nti.org/analysis/articles/brazils-new-defense-strategy/>.
101. “Fábrica de submarinos comprova potencial tecnológico do país, diz Dilma [Dilma cites submarine factory as evidence of nation's technological potential],” Investnews, March 1, 2013.
102. Conca, Manufacturing Insecurity, p. 186.
103. Ibid. This statistic is derived from the experiences of states producing both conventional and nuclear submarines.
104. “Bolsa Fmailia complete nove anos e beneficia 13,7 milhoes de familias [Bolsa Familia completes its ninth year and serves over 13.7 million families], Portal Brasil, September 19, 2012. <http://tinyurl.com/q88mxkw>.
105. Celso Amorim, “Uma Visão Brasileira do Panorama Estrategico Global [A Brazilian Vision in the Strategic Global Panorama],” Contexto Internacional 33 (2011), p. 2.
106. Othon Pinheiro da Silva, interview with author, Eletronuclear in Rio de Janeiro, August 23, 2012.
107. Fernanda das Graças Corrêa, interview with author, Forte de Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, August 18, 2012.
108. Brazilian Ministry of Defense, “National Strategy of Defense: Peace and Security for Brazil,” Decree no. 6703 (2008), p. 14.
109. Marvin M. Miller, telephone interview with author, July 12, 2012.
110. Matias Spektor, interview with author, Fundação Getulio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro, August 14, 2012.
111. Marcos de Azambuja, interview with author in his home in Rio de Janeiro, August 23, 2012.
112. Ibid.
113. Celso Amorim, “Hardening Brazil's Soft Power, ” Project Syndicate, July 16, 2013.
114. Corrêa, O projeto do submarino nuclear brasileiro, p. 8.
115. Ibid.
116. Marvin M. Miller, “Nuclear Submarines and their Implications for Weapons Proliferation,” in Paul L. Leventhal and Sharon Tanzer, eds., Averting a Latin American Nuclear Arms Race: New Prospects and Challenges for Argentine-Brazilian Nuclear Cooperation (Washington, DC: Macmillan, 1992), p. 160.
117. IAEA, “Agreement of 13 December 1991 between the Republic of Argentina, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards,” INFCIRC/435, December 1991.
118. Greg Thielmann, “Submarine Nuclear Reactors: A Worsening Proliferation Challenge,” Arms Control Association Threat Assessment Brief, July 26, 2012, <www.armscontrol.org/files/TAB_Submarine_Nuclear_Reactors.pdf>.
119. Marvin M. Miller, “Nuclear Submarines and their Implications for Weapons Proliferation,” in Averting a Latin American Nuclear Arms Race: New Prospects and Challenges for Argentine-Brazilian Nuclear Cooperation (Washington DC: Macmillan, 1992), p. 160.
120. Ibid.
121. Leonam dos Santos Guimarães, “Nuclear Power in Brazil,” Brazilian Journal of Physics 41 (2011).
122. Leonam dos Santos Guimarães, interview with author, Eletronuclear in Rio de Janeiro, August 2012.
123. Ibid.
124. Orpet Peixoto, interview with author, ABACC Headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, August 21, 2012.
125. Ibid.
126. Leonam dos Santos Guimarães, interview with author, Eletronuclear in Rio de Janeiro, August 2012.
127. Sébastien Philippe, “Safeguarding Military Naval Nuclear Fuel,” presentation at Nuclear Futures Laboratory at Princeton University, June, 2013.
128. Seyed Hossein Mousavian, The Iranian Nuclear Crisis: A Memoir (Washington DC: Brookings Institution, 2012), p. 383.
129. Ibid., p. 383.
130. Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Jim Yardley, “Countering China, Obama Backs India for UN Council,” New York Times, November 8, 2010, <www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/world/asia/09prexy.html>; Elisabeth Bumiller and Somini Sengupta, “US and India Reach Agreement on Nuclear Cooperation,” New York Times, March 2, 2006, <www.nytimes.com/2006/03/02/international/asia/02cnd-prexy.html>.
131. Marcos de Azambuja, interview with author in his home in Rio de Janeiro, August 23, 2012.
132. Togzhan Kassenova, interview with author, Carnegie Endowment in Washington DC, July 19, 2012.
133. Laura Rockwood, “The IAEA's State Level Concept and the Law of Unintended Consequences,” Arms Control Association, September 2014, <www.armscontrol.org/act/2014_09/Features/The-IAEAs-State-Level-Concept-and-the-Law-of-Unintended-Consequences>.
134. Carlos Feu Alvim, interview with author, Economia e Energia headquarters, Rio de Janeiro, August 14, 2012.