A consortium led by Belgium’s Tractebel has finalised the first stage of a project to support resumption of construction of unit 3 at Brazil’s Angra NPP, Tractebel has said. The reactor will help secure energy supply by generating over 1.4GW of low-carbon electricity a year.
Last year, Brazil's National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) awarded a contract to the Angra Eurobras NES consortium, comprising Tractebel and Empresarios Agrupados, to structure the project for the completion of the Angra 3. “A major milestone in the project is now finalised - the due diligence and evaluations stage,” Tractebel said.
Construction of Angra 3 originally started in 1984, but was suspended twice, in 2010 and in 2015, when over 60% of the project had already been completed. The plant is now scheduled to go into operation by the end of 2028. Contracting the consortium is part of the technical services that BNDES has been providing since 2019 to plant owner Eletronuclear. BNDES is responsible for structuring the different aspects of the project completion including the technical, economic, financial, and fund-raising.
The purpose of the due diligence is to analyse and evaluate in detail the information and documents on the project. “Our engineers based in Brazil and in Belgium carried out a budget study and elaborated an activity schedule for the power plant’s completion. They also delivered a preliminary Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contract Specification Report that covers all the technical aspects, including the technical qualification criteria for the selection process of the EPC partners,” Tractebel noted.
This first phase will enable BNDES to elaborate the modelling and will provide reliable data for the economic and financial assessment, the fund-raising process, and for the elaboration of the final EPC contract. It is crucial as it will mitigate the project’s risks. BNDES will now deliver the modelling of the project to the stakeholders for approval. Stakeholders include the Ministry of Mining and Energy, Eletronuclear and the Brazilian court of account that oversees all government expenditures. Following their analysis, the EPC scope will be finalised, taking into account their comments and modifications.
“Our experts will continue to provide engineering advice to BNDES throughout the project and will review the different aspects of the EPC scope when needed,” said Paulo Coelho, Head of Nuclear, South America at Tractebel. “The finalisation of the due diligence stage for Angra 3 is crucial, as it will enable to elaborate the specifications of the contract model for one or more engineering, procurement and construction contractors. Our engineers are providing cutting edge engineering services to BNDES for the completion of the plant. We are proud to be involved in a project that will help secure Brazil’s energy supply for several decades.”
Image: Close view of the Angra 3 nuclear power plant (courtesy of Eletronuclear)
