Plant components Brazilian nuclear submarine starts functioning
Brazil is closer to having its nuclear submarine, a project of the military for 40 years. If all goes as scheduled Navy of Brazil, SNBR stands for Brazilian Nuclear Submarine, will be sailing in 2025. Today will be inaugurated in Itaguai, in Rio de Janeiro, the production unit which will leave its internal components and the other four submarines that will replace the current fleet.
President Dilma Rousseff inaugurated this morning the Unit Manufacture of Steel Structures (Ufem), started in 2010. It is a large plant with a shed 40 meters, 90 000 m2 and 53 000 m2 of built area. It is three kilometers from Nuclebrás Heavy Equipment SA (Nuclep), linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. The cylinders Nuclep builds the hull, the part of the submarine where are the crew. While Nuclep manufactures the body of the submarine, the Ufem makes lighter and internal structures - the deck, bulkheads, bases pipe and equipment beyond the bow and stern.
The process of construction of submarines happens simultaneously in several units. The intention is that each of them will be ready in five years, the period for which they are not just obsolete, says Admiral Alan Paes Leme Arthou, project manager and construction of the base and the shipyard ItaguaÃ. The first of four conventional submarines - the family of SBR which will name the naval battles of the War of Paraguay-, should be ready in 2015. Remains two years in testing and will be delivered in 2017. The second will be delivered after 1.5 years and so on until the room is ready in 2020.
Each of conventional submarines costing € 500 million (nearly U.S. $ 1.3 billion). Replace the existing fleet of five submarines (Tupi, Tamoio, Timbira, Tapajós and Tikuna), with a useful life of 25 to 30 years and based on German design. The new family has five meters more than the French Scorpene, the Direction des
Constructions et Navales Services (DCNS). Ali fit 40 crew.
The nuclear submarine, to be named Ãlvaro Alberto (tribute to the military that introduced nuclear energy in Brazil), is bigger and will cost € 2 billion (£ 5.19 billion). Are a hundred crew members.
The ongoing project by the Navy includes three fronts - which will build the nuclear submarine, which will build four conventional submarines and the facilities to do it all. The plan includes the construction of a shipyard and naval base. The call Prosub (Submarine Development Program) is the largest international military contract in Brazil - is € 6.7 billion (or U.S. $ 17 billion). Portion of these resources to the Brazilian defense project is part of a financing to be paid by Brazil in 20 years, until 2029, to a consortium of banks BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Calyon Credit Industriel et Commercial, Natixis and Santander.
About 70 Brazilians were on the DCNS shipyard in Cherbourg, for technology transfer and capacity building. A company formed by DCNS and Odebrecht, special purpose builds naval base and shipyard in Itaguai.
The project of construction of submarines is part of an agreement between Brazil and France signed in September 2009 between the then President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Nicolas Sarkozy. France does not go to Brazil's nuclear propulsion technology. "Nobody in the world, provides technology to enrich uranium, which is the fuel of the nuclear submarine," said the admiral. Brazil already enriching uranium since 1985.
Today a handful of countries have nuclear submarines: the United States and Russia (already had about 170 each and now have 70), England and France (ten each), and China (with four). India also has a project, such as Brazil.
Admiral Arthou gives an idea of "‹"‹the complexity of making a nuclear submarine. "It's much more complex than can be produced in the world," he says. A car has about 3 billion pieces, a fighter plane, 100 000. A next-generation commercial aircraft, 150 thousand pieces. In Challenger is 180 thousand pieces. "A nuclear submarine has between 800 thousand to 900 thousand pieces, depending on the project."