Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Site Visit: Eletrobrás Eletronuclear (Angra 2, Angra 3, and Nuclear Waste Control Center)
Eletrobrás Eletronuclear was established in 1997 in order to build and operate nuclear power plants in Brazil. A subsidiary of Eletrobrás, it is a mixed-capital company and is responsible for the generation of approximately 3% of the electricity consumed in Brazil.

Comments from the students about the visit: 

"Angra is probably one of the most beautiful places you could build a nuclear power plant. Good thing it doesn’t have greenhouse gas emissions." -- Stephen Lee '13, Harvard College
Eletronuclear uses the biggest turbine in the southern hemisphere to not only generate a large portion of Brazil’s electricity, but also to invest in developing the surrounding community socioeconomically.
"I can’t believe I actually went to a nuclear power plant! Brazil has the technology and big uranium reserves; we need to increase the amount of nuclear energy generated in our country." -- Luciana C. Mascarenhas, 5th-year, Poli-USP  

"It was interesting to understand better how a nuclear power plant works and how important and complex is the job of the people who work there." -- Natália Takahashi Margarido, 6th-year, Poli-USP

"We could see the construction of Angra 3 and its construction site from a far view point. I couldn’t stop wondering about the technologies involving the cast and quality of the concrete used in that place." -- Guilherme A. Nogueira Cesar, 5th-year undergraduate student in Architecture, Poli-USP