Construction could resume in the second half of 2018 at unit 3 at the Angra NPP in Brazil provided an agreement is reached to increase the tariff for energy generated by the plant from the planned BRL222.18 ($69) per MWh, which is below the BRL224/MWh paid for electricity generated by units 1 and 2.
Eletrobras Eletronuclear president told Valor Economico in an interview that Eletronuclear expects approval from the National Energy Policy Council in March to negotiate with potential international partners for the construction. These include China National Nuclear Corporation, with which it has signed a memorandum of understanding, France’s EDF, with whom there is a confidentiality agreement to share data about Angra 3, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom and South Korea’s Korea Electric Power Corporation.
Construction of the 1400MWe Angra 3, a Siemens/KWU pressurised water reactor, began in 1984 but was stopped in 1986 because of a lack of financing. Eletronuclear said almost 47% of civil works is complete, although some press reports have put the figure at around 60%. In 2007, a government energy policy committee authorised completion of the unit and in May 2010 the nuclear regulator granted a construction permit. In January 2011, Brazilian national development bank BNDES approved $2.5bn of financing for the work.
Brazil’s two operating nuclear reactors, Angra 1 and Angra 2, generate about 3% of Brazil’s electricity. Barretto said the cost of Angra 3 is being re-evaluated. In 2015 the budget had risen to about $5.2bn.
