At their summit meeting in Moscow on Wednesday, one of the areas of discussion between the Presidents of Brazil and Russia, Jair Bolsonaro and Vladimir Putin respectively, was cooperation in the field of civil nuclear energy and technology. The one-on-one meeting between the two men reportedly lasted nearly two hours. According to the subsequently issued joint statement, both were determined to reinforce the “strategic partnership” between the two countries.

“The Heads of State stressed the vast potential for the development of cooperation and new business initiatives in the field of energy, emphasising the two countries’ complementarity in [the] oil and gas industry, in ensuring energy efficiency and renewable energy,” affirmed the joint statement. “The Presidents expressed their intention to expand the dialogue on issues such as off-shore hydrocarbon production, the development of hydrogen and nuclear energy.”

Regarding nuclear cooperation, Russian State-owned vertically-integrated nuclear group Rosatom, and Brazilian State-owned electricity utility Eletrobras and its nuclear power plant- (NPP-) operating subsidiary Eletronuclear, signed a memorandum of understanding in 2017. (Eletrobras is one of a number of electricity utilities in Brazil.)

“Russia’s Rosatom exports fuel for Brazilian [NPPs] and radioisotopes for medical purposes,” highlighted Putin. “Rosatom is also interested in participating in the construction of new power units in Brazil, including small capacity [NPPs], both on land and floating plants, because it has unique and extensive experience, and technologies that are not available elsewhere in the world.”

Brazil currently has one NPP, with two operating nuclear reactors. Construction of a third, at the same NPP, is expected to resume soon. The South American country plans to further increase its nuclear generation capacity and build additional NPPs in different parts of the country.

“We have vast potential for developing cooperation in the sphere of oil, petroleum products and natural gas,” pointed out Bolsonaro. “We are striving to strengthen our high-level dialogue on oil exploration and production in deep-water deposits. We are interested in small nuclear plants.”