Angra nuclear power plant fined for not leaking polluted water

The mixed economy company Eletronuclear, which operates the Angra 1 nuclear power plant in Angra dos Reis (RJ), was fined by Ibama for a radioactive water leak in 2022 and was not reported to the environmental protection agency. The total penalty is BRL 2.1 million, BRL 2 million for leaks and BRL 100,000 for negligence.

In addition to the material sanction, Public Prosecutor Aldo de Campos Costa stated that within 30 days, the state-owned company A complete assessment of the potential damage to Itaorna Bay, The location of the Angra 1 power plant in terms of environment and human health.

The accident, which occurred on September 16, was only reported 21 days later by Eletronuclear to Ibama and the National Nuclear Energy Commission. According to a memo from CNEN, the state-owned company reported that “a maximum volume of water was released into the plant’s drain at an estimated volume of 90 litres.”

What does Electronuclear say?

Electronuclear claims A “small volume” of hazardous material would be involuntarily released into the “rainwater system”. [que foi levado ao mar]”. In an interview with the newspaper WorldThe state-owned company reported that the whole thing was just an “operational incident.”

The assessment of the state-owned company, which was founded in 1997 to build and operate thermonuclear power plants in Brazil, is that there is no need to comply with the “notification ritual that will be mandatory in the event of an accident” because after analyzing the department, No meaningful results were found.

The mayor of Angra dos Reis, Fernando Jordão, also requested clarification from the head of the state-owned company, Eduardo Grivot de Grand Court. “I am the mayor of Angra, where the factories are located, and I was never informed about the case,” said Jordão.