Article Posted on : - May 24, 2010

Brazilian navy’s SSK Tupi class attack submarine

BRASILIA (AFP): Brazil will finish the first reactor for its nuclear submarine in 2014, the navy's nuclear propulsion program chief Andre Ferreira Marques said in an interview.

The reactor will be powered initially with five-per cent enriched uranium and eventually with 20-per cent, he said in the interview with the state's Agencia Brasil news agency.

Brasilia will begin building its nuclear sub in 2016 and complete it in 2021, an adaptation of the Scorpene bought from France.

The sub reactor will be used as a model for future Brazilian nuclear power plant reactors, he added.

Brazil is working towards self-sufficiency in nuclear fuel from 2014, official said.