Brazil to Approve Four New Reactors by the End of 2011.

[NNadir]

Brazil's new minister of mines and energy, Edison Lobao, has stated that the government plans to give approval by the end of 2011 for the construction of four new nuclear power plants in the country.

Speaking to journalists, Lobao – who was previously minister of mines and energy between January 2008 and March 2010 under the government of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva - said that approval for the new plants was required from the National Energy Policy Council (CNPE). He said: "We will hold a meeting of CNPE to deal with it. The sites are located. We hope to move forward with these projects."

However, he said that the generating capacity of the new plants had not yet been determined and therefore there are no estimates on how much investment will be necessary for construction of the projects.

While the exact location of the new plants has not been decided, Lobao said that two plants should be built in northeast Brazil and the other two in the southeast of the country.

In 2007, a National Energy Plan to 2030 produced by EPE was adopted by the Brazilian government, which said that 6000 MWe of nuclear capacity will be needed by that date.

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Approval_coming_for_new_Brazilian_reactors-1001114.html">Approval coming for new Brazilian reactors