When members of Brazil’s National Energy Policy Council (CNPE) gathered June 24 to consider building a third Brazilian nuclear-power plant, approval was such a forgone conclusion that Environment Minister Marina Silva, a critic of the project, didn’t bother to attend. Instead, she sent her second in command to cast the lone no vote. Sure enough, the council approved the plant, called Angra 3, in a 7-1 decision. For months, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had been describing Angra 3 as essential to diversifying Brazil’s energy mix and avoiding power shortages—a message the largely pro-development CNPE, an inter-ministerial body, welcomed. Though Angra 3 still must receive a construction permit from Ibama, the Environment Ministry’s licensing arm, that approval is considered likely... [Log in to read more]