Mapa tecnológico para reatores de tório no Brasil

Abstract

Brazil boasts its vast thorium reserves, an atomic mineral lighter than uranium, which also can be used as a fuel in nuclear reactors. The historical nuclear geopolitical pressures since the end of World War II have slowed down, but they have not been able to prevent Brazil from dominating the entire uranium fuel cycle, developing indigenous technical capacity and technological independence in the supply of its plants. The second decade of the 21st century sees the continuous growth of global electricity demand, rising nuclear generation by constructing new plants, thus stimulating technological improvement. Although nuclear is a source of baseload energy that meets climate demands for reducing global warming, it brings the controversial issues of nuclear proliferation and radioactive waste. At the same time, the geopolitical scenario points to changes, where the traditional technological curtailment seems to be reduced by the formation of international forums with scientific and technological collaboration on the development of the fourth generation new nuclear energy systems, named by the Generation IV International Forum – GIF. However, one of the biggest obstacles to boost the investment in nuclear technology in the country is the difficulty to place this topic on the political agenda, with the promotion of a broad debate that may culminate in the establishment of consistent public policies for Research, Development and Innovation in the area (RD&I). In this context, the opportunity arises to design an unprecedented technology roadmap proposing the development of thorium reactors in Brazil. The Technology Roadmap tool summarizes the information needed for decision making into a single document, providing a comprehensive, condensed easy-to-understand view. Technology roadmaps have been used by countries such as China and Australia as well as by organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA to guide medium- and long-term public policies. This work proposes a technology roadmap to build a thorium reactor in Brazil, with the objective of enabling the formulation of specific public policies that contemplate the development of nuclear reactors in Brazil with indigenous technology using the thorium fuel cycle.