Brazil cools on nuclear power plans; favors wind
Brazil cools on nuclear power plans; favors wind
By Brian Winter
RIO DE JANEIRO | Sun Sep 15, 2013 7:03am EDT
(Reuters) - Brazil will probably scale down its plans for new nuclear plants due to safety concerns following the 2011 radiation leak in Japan and pick up some of the slack with a "revolution" in wind power, the head of the government's energy planning agency said.
Mauricio Tolmasquim, chief of the Energy Research Company, told Reuters it was "unlikely" the government would stick to its plans to build four new nuclear plants by 2030 to meet rising demand for electricity.
...Tolmasquim's comments, part of a broad assessment of Brazil's long-term strategic plans for electricity generation, highlighted continued global doubts regarding nuclear power more than two years after an earthquake and tsunami led to an accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan.
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Tolmasquim, who was the top aide for Rousseff when she was Brazil's energy minister in the early 2000s and is still close to the left-leaning leader, said he sees particular potential for wind power expansion thanks to growing competition and technological advances that lowered prices.
Average wind power prices in Brazil have declined from 148 reais ($64) per megawatt-hour at the end of 2009 to 110 reais per megawatt hour this year....
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/15/us-brazil-nuclear-idUSBRE98E06U20130915