Brazil Denies Nuclear Weapons Ambitions

Brazil is not seeking nuclear weapons, the country’s defense minister said Thursday after a general asserted that a nuclear deterrent was necessary to survive in a “more violent and unpredictable world,” Bloomberg reported (see GSN, May 8, 2006).

“We must have in Brazil the capacity of in the future, if the government agrees, to develop nuclear weapons,” said Gen. Jose Benedito de Barros Moreira earlier last week.

Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said in response to speculation sparked by Moreira’s remarks that Brazil’s nuclear ambitions “aren’t for a nuclear bomb, that’s just nonsense,” according to a transcript released by his office.

Brazil intends to spend $596 million over the next eight years to fund the construction of a nuclear submarine and several nuclear power plants (Andrew Soliani, Bloomberg, Nov. 16).

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