Luis Bitencourt, director of the Brazil Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for scholars, noted that during the 1980s Brazil's military government maintained ambiguity about the country's nuclear intentions, never acknowledging that a covert nuclear weapons program existed.
After taking office in 1990, President Fernando Collor de Mello took bold steps to control and restrict Brazil's nuclear program and to improve relations with Argentina. On May 30, 1994 Brazil ratified the Treaty of Tlatelolco, an agreement which calls for a nuclear-free zone in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in 1997 Brazil ratified the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Recent developments by the Brazilian government have raised new concerns that Brazil may still be seeking the technological capability to produce a nuclear bomb. A 2004 article in Science magazine reported that Brazil is planning to commission a uranium enrichment plant at a new facility in Resende that, if configured to do so, could produce enough fuel for several nuclear weapons annually.
Brazil's science and technology minister Eduardo Campos has declared that "the Brazilian nuclear project is intended exclusively for peaceful purposes."
In early 2004, Brazil barred the IAEA from inspecting the Resende facility. After negotiations between Brazil and the atomic watchdog agency in late 2004, Brazil agreed to give IAEA inspectors access to the Resende facility, according to the Associated Press.
Brazil's uranium deposits, highly trained scientists and multiple nuclear research centers make it the most advanced nuclear nations in Latin America.
G Cord Nation on 30 Apr 09Brazil pursued a covert nuclear weapons program in response to Argentina's program. It developed a modest nuclear power program, enrichment facilitiesBrazil's nuclear capabilities are the most advanced in Latin America; that the United States had been an unreliable supplier, Brazil was forced to look elsewhere for assistance. Brazil made a radical change in 1975, when it opted for nuclear technology from West Germany, despite strong protests from the United States. The agreement, signed on June 27, called for West Germany to transfer eight nuclear reactors (each of which could produce 1,300 megawatts), a commercial-scale uranium enrichment facility, a pilot-scale plutonium reprocessing plant, and Becker "jet nozzle" enrichment technology. West Germany's Kraftwerk Union, an affiliate of Siemens, was hired to construct the power plants. The projected cost of the program was US$4 billion, to be paid over a fifteen-year period. The most important element of the agreement was that it called for the first-ever transfer of technology for a complete nuclear fuel cycle, including enrichment and reprocessing. The United States government opposed the accord vigorously. Although it was unable to revoke the agreement, the United States convinced West Germany to enact stringent safeguards. Through a series of agreements, Brazil and Argentina have defused the issue of nuclear rivalry. On May 20, 1980, while under military rule, both countries signed the Brazilian-Argentine Agreement on the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy, establishing technical cooperation in developing the nuclear fuel cycle and coordination of nuclear policy. President Sarney and Argentine president Raúl Alfonsín strengthened this cooperation in 1985, with the Joint Declarations on Nuclear Policy of Foz do Iguaçu. After the 1985 agreement, the presidents and technical staffs made reciprocal visits to nonsafeguarded nuclear installations in both countries. The heads of state made subsequent joint declarations
