U.N. nuclear inspectors arrive in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – A top Brazilian official said Monday that United Nations nuclear inspectors were no longer insisting on unrestricted access to the country’s uranium enrichment facilities.

Odair Dias Goncalves, president of Brazil’s National Nuclear Energy Commission, said he hoped the International Atomic Energy Agency’s new position would help resolve a dispute over the country’s plans to enrich uranium.

“The agency has agreed that it is possible to put safeguards in place without total and unrestricted access,” Goncalves said at news conference.

The comments from Goncalves were the first official confirmation of such an agreement between the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency and Brazil, which has for months rejected calls to allow inspectors to conduct a full visual inspection of the centrifuges at the nuclear facility in Resende.

Three high-level IAEA inspectors arrived Monday in Rio de Janeiro and planned to visit the plant in Resende, about 60 miles northwest of Rio, on Tuesday. Goncalves said the IAEA inspectors would not comment to the press during their visit, as is customary.

Uranium enriched to low levels is used for fuel to generate power. More highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium can be used in nuclear warheads. Brazil denies it is building such arms.

Brazil had cited fears that the Resende plant’s advanced technology could be stolen by other countries if outsiders were allowed to view it.

Brazil says it has developed new electromagnetic technology that reduces friction in the centrifuges and makes them 30 percent more efficient than those used in other countries.

Some analysts have suggested, however, that Brazil will not allow inspectors full access because it purchased the technology on the nuclear black market – a charge the government denies.

Goncalves said he expects the inspectors to approve the alternative inspection system and send another team shortly to approve the plant’s design.