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As the hazards of man-made climate change intensify, global use of nuclear energy remains one of the most controversial non-carbon energy options. Brazil’s diversified energy matrix, for example, relies on nuclear energy for 3 percent of its national energy use and remains one of the few Latin American countries with multiple nuclear sites. Yet, few scholars heed Brazil in the broader global nuclear energy history traditionally dominated by the US, Europe, Russia, and Japan. After decades of trying to set up a nuclear industry with US support, President Ernesto Geisel partnered with West Germany to obtain the technology to develop the industry and created the state-owned entity, Nuclebras, to administer it in 1975. Energy independence and technology ownership ostensibly drove government investment as the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985) sought to diversify away from the country’s heavy dependence on foreign oil in the 1970s. However, Brazilian officials had leveraged political, economic, and environmental resources to obtain the technology to develop their own nuclear industry. This project explores how various actors, from military and government officials to scientists and environmental activists, shaped Brazil’s domestic nuclear industry’s development in the late twentieth century, and the lasting influence of the nuclear industry on Brazil’s energy ambitions today.
My book project, Going Nuclear: The Rise of Brazilian Nuclear Energy, traces the development of the Brazilian nuclear energy industry from a post-World War II aspiration in the 1950s to a state-led initiative in the 1970s through the energy boom of the 2000s. I argue that while the military’s geopolitical interests drove sustained government investment in nuclear development, environmental factors, domestic popular protest and private commercial actors successfully slowed the nuclear industry’s expansion. The Brazilian government first negotiated with US officials to establish a nuclear energy infrastructure in the 1950s. The Westinghouse Electric Company, an American manufacturer, began construction of the country’s first nuclear plant, Angra I, in 1972, off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. However, the US government later limited the transfer of the necessary technology for independent nuclear power production. In response, Military President Ernesto Geisel signed an agreement with West Germany in 1975 to obtain the technology in the name of energy independence. West Germany promised Brazil the full nuclear fuel cycle technology while Brazil promised uranium reserves. While this development had significant diplomatic implications amid non-proliferation debates, Brazil successfully used US and German assistance to become the first Latin American country to enter the small club of nations producing nuclear power.
My project engages questions of technological transfers, water security, international diplomacy, development, nationalism, and environmental consciousness imbricated in the country’s pursuit of nuclear energy. My project asks: How did US, German, and Brazilian private interests align with Brazilian military and civilian government interests to push through the completion of Brazil’s only two nuclear plants? How did the general Brazilian public view nuclear energy? How did environmental factors challenge Brazil’s nuclear ambitions? How did popular mobilization after major international nuclear events outside and inside the country affect the industry’s trajectory? Finally, what legacy does the development of Brazil’s nuclear energy industry leave in global nuclear history and more broadly global energy histories?
Between 2021 and 2024, I visited three Consortium institutional libraries to advance my research on the nuclear energy industry in Brazil. First, I visited the Senator John Heinz History Center (in association with the Smithsonian Institution). Located in Pittsburgh, PA, the library houses the Westinghouse Electric Company Archive. Here, I explored the materials referencing the private company’s construction of Angra I and its relationship with Brazilian officials in light of American policy restrictions.
Second, I visited the Rockefeller Archive in New York. The Rockefeller Archive houses numerous collections of individual foreign affairs correspondents of the 1950s and 1960s, including the Berent Friele papers. Friele was a close associate of the Rockefellers who specifically worked on diminishing German influence and heightening US influence in Brazil before World War II. He served as Nelson Rockefeller’s advisor on Latin America during his Vice-Presidential administration from 1974-1977, which overlaps with the time that the Brazilian government broke relations with the US and aligned with Germany to pursue their domestic nuclear interests. Here I also examined the Nelson Ford Files on the Brazil-Germany nuclear deal and water policy toward nuclear energy in the US. The Rockefeller Archive Center also houses the Ford Foundation papers, which notably invested in energy policy development in the 1970s. Together these collections inform my perspective on the breakdown in the US-Brazilian efforts to manifest a Brazilian nuclear industry and reactions to the Brazilian-German partnership in its stead.
Third, I visited the Linda Hall Library in Missouri. The Linda Hall Library is a leading science and technology library in the United States and their extensive materials on nuclear energy were valuable. The library houses the proceedings of various symposia and conferences on nuclear energy in Brazil that inform my analysis of efforts by scientists, government officials and specialists to establish a nuclear industry through formal research alliances. Notably, I have turned attention toward uranium mining in Brazil as I explore the everyday experience of nuclear energy in Brazil. Many citizens never come into contact with Brazil’s one nuclear energy outfit, which houses both Angra I and Angra II (construction of Angra III is ongoing). Yet, nuclear energy’s imprint spreads far across the country through uranium mining. Sites in the state of Minas Gerais in the south and Bahia in the north have harbored extensive environmental degradation and higher rates of radiation exposure due to uranium mining. Among the many valuable sources consulted on my research trip, the Linda Hall Library holds geological reports conducted by US officials in the 1950s and 1960s. These became the foundation of broader uranium extraction efforts in the 1970s and 1980s in collaboration with German and US interests. These sources will inform future chapters on uranium mining in Brazil and its implications on the country’s nuclear energy history to this day.
Ultimately, Going Nuclear will uncover not only an important part of Brazilian history but also a forgotten part of global nuclear history. As the world seeks global energy solutions, Brazil’s path to nuclear energy illustrates how emerging market economies have managed multiple energy sources in more dynamic ways than many developed nations. The Consortium fellowship provided an important the intellectual community, library access and financial support to significantly advance this project.
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Jennifer Eaglin is associate professor in the Department of History at the Ohio State University. She is a 2021-2022 Consortium Research Fellow.