Brazil's Nuclear Plans Get a Boost from Bush

During his recent trip to Brazil in mid-October, U.S. vice-president George Bush gave a shot in the arm to Brazil's faltering nuclear industry. At the same time, he demonstrated the Reagan administration's disregard for the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Bush's action consisted oin granting an exemption to Brazil for a multi-million dollar fine the country would otherwise be liable to pay the U.S: for obtaining enriched uranium from a country other than the U.S.

In 1972, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Brazilian government utility, "Furnas," signed an agreement for the construction of a nuclear reactor, "Angra I" to be built by the Westing house Corporation. The agreement stipulated that the U.S. would be the exclusive supplier of enriched uranium for the first five years of the reactor's operation. (After a series of long delays, the reactor is finally to begin operating in November.) If Brazil were to violate this clause by buying enriched uranium from another country, it would have to pay a $20 million fine.

Bush's exemption comes in the nick of time for Brazil, which has arranged to receive by 1982 a shipment of 20 tons of enriched uranium from a consortium of European companies: West Germany's Uran-Isotopentrennungs GmbH, Holland's Ultra-Centrifuge Netherlands NV, and British Nuclear Fuel Ltd.

Bush further assured the Brazilians that the U.S. Congress could not block the exemption, a claim denied by Jerry Brubaker, staff member of the House Subcommittee on Energy Conservation and Power. "It could be blocked by a resolution," he said, referring to the exemption. Brubaker was concerned about Bush's statements not only on technical grounds. "The exemption violates the intent of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978," he charged.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act prohibits the U.S. from supplying enriched uranium to countries, like Brazil, which refuse to submit to inspections of current facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). As a result, Westinghouse cannot sell enriched uranium to Brazil. Bush's exemption, however, allows Brazil to obtain enriched uranium elsewhere without paying a fine which, though originally not intended as a nuclear deterrent, had made the already costly Brazilian nuclear experiment even more expensive to complete.

When asked if the exemption circumvents the intent of the 1978 Act, Richard Ottinger, chair of the subcommittee on Energy Conservation and Power, forcefully affirmed: "It does indeed," calling Bush's action "outrageous."

Westinghouse refused to comment on the incident.

- Renato Tucunduva. Jr.