Brazil and weapons of mass destruction

Based on Brazil's history, it is believed that the country does not possess significant weapons of mass destruction.

In early 2004, there was an international initiative to enlarge the inspection of installations where enrichment of uranium-238 is made, verifying that the process was not intended for the development of nuclear weapons. The Brazilian authorities, at first, did not allow the inspection of the centrifugal machines, arguing that this would reveal technological secrets. By now, the inspections were already allowed.

The Brazilian authorities said that, as Brazil is not part of any "evil axis", the pressure for full access to inspection - even to universities - was an attempt to pirate industrial secrets. They also claimed that their technology is better than that of the USA and France, mainly because the centrifugal axis is not mechanical, but electromagnetic.

As for Brazilian society, in general, the incident is understood by noticing that the centrifugal axis seems to have cost around US$200 million, while American and French ones, over US$2 billion. This leads to a notion that there was actually an attempt get access to industrial secrets by any means (either pacific, or hostile).

American authorities have stated that a significant improvement using this technique is unlikely to be possible. They still believe the inspection should be made to guarantee there are no nuclear weapons being built.

A small number of Brazilians fear that this incident may be used by the USA to wage a war against Brazil, as happened in Iraq.

External links

• Jornal da Ciência's article (Brazilian Portuguese)