Brazil and weapons of mass destruction

Based on the history of Brazil, it is believed that the country does not possess any weapons of mass destruction. Although a covert nuclear weapons program was pursued by Brazil under a military government in the 1970s, it ended with the rise of an elected government in 1985. José Sarney (President 1985-1990) is reported to have stated that the previous military dictatorship had gone as far as preparing a nuclear weapon test site.

Brazil is among the powers which possess the ability to create nuclear weapons but has agreed not to do so (under the terms of theNuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as reaffirmed by the Two Plus Four Treaty). Brazil has a program to produce enriched uranium for power plants using Zippe-type centrifuges, officially opening the Resende enrichment plant in May 2006^[3]. Brazil's enrichment technology development, and the plant itself, involved substantial discussions with the IAEA and its constituent nations. The dispute came down to whether IAEA representatives (many from countries with their own commercial enrichment programs) would be allowed to inspect the machines themselves. The Brazilian authorities, at first, did not allow the inspection of the centrifugal machines, arguing that this would reveal technological secrets (probably relating to the use of electromagnetic levitation instead of fragile and unreliable bearings to allow the rotor to spin in place).

The Brazilian authorities said that, as Brazil is not part of any axis of evil, the pressure for full access to inspection - even in universities - could be construed as an attempt to pirate industrial secrets^[4]. They also claimed that their technology is better than that of the USA andFrance, mainly because the centrifugal axis is not mechanical, but electromagnetic. Eventually, after extensive negotiations, agreement was reached that while not directly inspecting the centrifuges, the IAEA would inspect the composition of the gas entering and leaving the centrifuge. US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, stated in 2004 that he was "sure" that Brazil had no plans to develop nuclear weapons^[5].

If Brazil decided to pursue a nuclear weapon, the centrifuges at the Resende plants could easily be reconfigured to produce enough highly enriched uranium to make a bomb quite quickly - possibly around six bombs per year^[6]. Brazil wishes to develop a nuclear submarine fleet, and in 2007 authorised the construction of a prototype submarine propulsion reactor^[7].

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