February 13, 2006
Brasil, uranium and ghost sightings
I was just watching CNN live on my PC and they were showing a press conference in which the media was grilling White House Press Secretary, Scott McClellan, about the VP Cheney's hunting accident (note to self: never accept a hunting invitation by the VP...), a real fiasco, if yoiu ask me and goes to show what kind of timely information we get from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. In any case, when McClellan got tired of dodging spit balls, he tried to change the subject and of course, Iran and their nuclear program came up. One of the reporters asked the Press Secretary about a piece of news that supposedly appeared in the British media about Brasil enriching uranium with the opening of a brand new plant to supply their two, and operating, nuclear power plants. The alleged report appears to have all kinds of hyperbolic extrapolations about potential threats, nuclear proliferation, etc., etc., and comparing Brasil to Iran on an issue where the similarity begins and ends on "uranium", the mineral. McClellan claimed not to know anything about the report or of the facts themselves. Weird, if it wasn't impossible not to notice such an elephant in the room, I might even believe him. "Might" is the keyword, but the weird thing is that I searched Google News on two simple terms, "Brasil" and "uranium", and as of today, Feb/13/2006 1320hrs EST, there were only four articles about that new plant, all from a Brasilian news agency and they were released back on January 23rd. Three weeks ago! Not a peep from anybody else in the News Googlesphere!!
Now, how come not even Iran itself used the news to their advantage, citing international hypocrisy, for example? Don't get me wrong, like I've said, the similarity between Iran and Brasil on the issue of uranium enrichment, begins and ends on "uranium", period, beyond that there are no real or fabricated comparisons. Still, just now, three weeks after it was noted in "one" Brasilian news agency, the slow digestion is begining to shed some crap. One word: Amazing!
Who the fuck controls the media? Not sure I want to know, but if you have an answer, please share, nevertheless.
Brazil's nuclear program is peacefulPosted by Sparhawk at February 13, 2006 1:34 PM | TrackBack07:38
Alana Gandra
Reporter Agência Brasil
Rio - At the moment, when anyone mentions nuclear program, all eyes turn to Iran and its dispute with the United States and the European Union. The problem is that there are strong suspicions that the objective of the Iranian nuclear program is to eventually build a bomb.The Brazilian nuclear program does not have that problem. According to Carlos Freire Moreira, a director at Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil, which will be operating Brazil's first uranium enrichment factory in Resende, Rio de Janeiro, the program is exclusively industrial and commercial, and will supply the country's nuclear power plants with fuel. The factory will be inaugurated this month.
Moreira points out that Brazil is a signatory to all the nuclear non-proliferation treaties and that the Resende factory will be overseen by the Brazil-Argentina Nuclear Energy Application Agency. He also reports that Brazil presently has a good relationship with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Aquilino Serra, a researcher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, says that when the Resende factory goes into operation the only international concern will be with possible competition from a new player in the restricted field of uranium enrichment. Serra says Brazil should not have any problems with inspections, as long as they take place within the framework established (which offer Brazil protection for its processing technology). Serra points out that the Brazilian factory will enrich uranium by 5%, which is the limit for industrial/commercial purposes. "In order to make a bomb, you have to enrich to 95%," he explains.
Translation: Allen Bennett
23/01/2006