Brazil has opened a new uranium enrichment plant, making it the world’s eighth country to possess enrichment technology. Brazil has the world’s sixth largest reserves of uranium.

“Enrichment used to be done abroad, but with this plant, some 95% of all the process will be domestic from next year,” said a spokeswoman for the Brazilian Nuclear Institute. She did not indicate exactly when output from the plant would start.

The plant in the town of Resende in Rio de Janeiro state cost $140 million, and it is estimated that it would save the country about $13 million a year.