Brazilian businesses expand nuclear partnerships with Russia

Brazil's business partnership with Russian companies in the nuclear industry have yielded business benefits. According to Jair Mengatti, Production Director at the Institute of Energy and Nuclear Research (IPEN), Brazil's main radiopharmaceutical producer, the trade between the two countries has allowed the Brazilian government to halve its costs with materials that help diagnose and treat several types of cancer.

“By the end of last year, our iodine-131 provider, for example, was from Canada, but after a tender, Russia became our [cheaper] supplier. We have saved around $100,000 a week. It's more than $2.8 million a year in savings,” Mengatti said.

Earlier this month, he visited the Russian partner's facilities and seems to have been impressed by their production capabilities. “They have a huge number of reactors. We have already listed new inputs [we want to procure], and since we have a bilateral agreement in place, we can establish strategic partnerships without bidding if they provide business benefits,” he said. The list includes gallium-67 and thallium chloride, chemicals used for diagnosis.

In June 2015, when Russian state-controlled nuclear energy corporation ROSATOM opened a regional office in Rio de Janeiro, it could hardly anticipate the scale of the political and economic crisis Brazil was about to plunge into. During AtomExpo 2016, the world's leading forum on nuclear energy held in Moscow in the first week of June, ROSATOM's Latin America Vice-President Ivan Dybov admitted that Brazil will have to wait for the scenario to stabilize before it can strike big business deals, but celebrated advances in radioisotopes, agriculture, and other areas.

“Some of our future nuclear plant partnerships may face delays, but there are other business opportunities. We are the leading radioisotope supplier in Brazil and can provide materials for agriculture and medicine across Latin America, a strategic partner for us,” said Dybov. He went on to mention a potential radioactive waste dump project for Brazil's state-owned Eletronuclear, which operates Angra I and Angra II nuclear plants in Rio de Janeiro state.

Jaime Cardoso, Chair of Brazil's Nuclebrás heavy equipment industry (NUCLEP), was one of the guests at AtomExpo 2016. He said business partnerships with Russia could help the company expand its production. Nuclebrás, a government controlled company with private stockholders, was adversely affected by the economic downturn and the crisis at Petrobras, its main customer, he explained.

“We already are one of ROSATOM's global nuclear equipment suppliers. We are now discussing other partnership models, including joint ventures, to expand our supplying capabilities, especially for the Latin American market,” he said, adding that a similar memorandum has been signed with US-based Westinghouse and another one is being negotiated with France's Areva.

*The reporter traveled at the invitation of ROSATOM, Russia's state-owned nuclear energy corporation.

Translated by Mayra Borges