Brazil’s nuclear reactor still on paper after 17 years, R$5bn planned

Created to reposition the country in the nuclear research landscape and reduce external dependence, the RMB has advanced slowly despite R$5 billion earmarked for the project, according to the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MCTI).

The reactor is the responsibility of the National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN) and, between 2008 and 2025, went through a succession of altered timelines, internal reviews, restarted phases, supplementary studies, budget interruptions, and debates over infrastructure, management, and governance. According to the agency, more than R$1.2 billion has already been allocated to the project through the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FNDCT).

In February, the federal government held a new ceremony marking the start of construction of the reactor, to be implemented in Iperó, in the state of São Paulo, an event treated as a milestone by the MCTI. The first such ceremony took place in 2018, under former president Michel Temer. Nearly a year after the latest event, sentiment within the nuclear sector remains skeptical. Experts interviewed by Valor said the ceremony did not translate into real progress and that the project remains stalled by management failures.

The National Nuclear Safety Authority (ANSN), the agency responsible for sector regulation, said the licensing process has accumulated pending issues, in addition to an insufficient number of staff assigned to move the process forward. Today, there are more than 200 outstanding documentary requirements, including the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report (RPAS).

“This stage of licensing is of key importance, as it is when the regulator analyzes and understands the project’s overall concept, as well as how the applicant intends to address design-basis accidents and the performance of structures, systems, and components, both under normal operating conditions and during transients that challenge safety. Once this Preliminary Report is approved, it becomes possible to issue the Construction License for the project, even if accompanied by conditions and non-blocking requirements,” ANSN said in a statement.

The view that the bottleneck is essentially managerial is shared by representatives of the nuclear market, who for years have warned of CNEN’s difficulty in advancing the project even when funding is available. For Celso Cunha, president of the Brazilian Association for the Development of Nuclear Activities (ABDAN), the inability to execute is the main obstacle to completing the project.

“I firmly believe this is a management problem. We have a research institution managing the construction of a reactor, a major project. That’s not the usual skill set of this type of institution. It requires a whole body of work that is not trivial. Large engineering companies are used to doing this. That’s why it concerns us, and we are not seeing a reaction from the institution [the Institute for Energy and Nuclear Research (IPEN), CNEN’s technical-scientific unit in São Paulo] in that direction,” he said.

CNEN said the reactor is estimated at R$3 billion, with complementary laboratory and infrastructure facilities totaling R$2 billion. The commission attributes the slow pace to the budgetary and institutional context of recent years.

“Projects like the RMB require a strong budgetary and institutional base. The RMB was incorporated into the New PAC in 2023 and treated as a priority by the MCTI. For the RMB to be completed, continuous financial and institutional commitment is essential. In 2025, the ministry and CNEN held the ceremony marking the start of infrastructure works, signaling the transition to the practical phase of implementation,” the agency said.

“Infrastructure works at the site are being completed (earthworks, bridge, access roads, and internal roads). As for licensing, the environmental permit [from federal environmental agency IBAMA] has already been issued, and nuclear licensing has begun, which continues throughout the entire implementation process until the final stage, when the operating permit is issued,” it added.

The MCTI, in turn, said execution of the works and allocation of resources will take place “over the next five years,” until completion of the complex. Both ANSN and ABDAN agree that the project has been structured in a highly centralized manner, with too few professionals involved.

While the RMB is not completed, Brazil remains dependent on imported radioisotopes. Today, virtually all supplies come from the Netherlands, Russia, and, to a lesser extent, Israel. The fact that the latter two countries are involved in geopolitical conflicts makes supply unstable.

The situation is already affecting public healthcare services. In a statement, the president of the Brazilian Society of Nuclear Medicine (SBMN), Elba Etchebehere, pointed out that the country faces “persistent shortages resulting from production capacities that still do not fully meet the sector’s needs,” and that only about one-third of national demand for radiopharmaceuticals is currently met. For her, expanding production is essential to stabilize supply and ensure public access to exams and treatments.

The domestic structure responsible for processing part of these inputs also faces limitations—this time, regulatory. According to a letter sent by ABDAN to ANSN, reviewed by Valor, IPEN’s radiopharmacy currently does not have an active operating authorization due to infrastructure and regulatory compliance issues. The facility was at one point shut down by the Health Surveillance Coordination Office and, according to the association, remains barred from expanding capacity or making structural changes until documentation for license renewal is submitted.

These materials are processed at IPEN, but because they are imported, a significant portion loses effectiveness during transit before reaching Brazil. The race against the clock is due to the so-called “half-life.” Radioisotopes have a specific physical behavior: they degrade rapidly. “Half-life” refers to the time it takes for half of a radioactive substance to decay.

Brazil’s situation contrasts with that of neighboring countries. Argentina already produces radioisotopes that Brazil cannot, reinforcing perceptions of technological lag and a lack of planning in the country’s nuclear sector.