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Book review: The secret nuclear history of Brazil

Nuclear Monitor Issue: 
#473
30/05/1997
Article

(May 30, 1997) Histórias Secretas do Brasil Nuclear (Secret Stories of Brazil in the Nuclear Age) by journalist Tania Malheiros is a detailed account of investigative journalism.

(473.4693) WISE-Amsterdam -It reveals historical facts of the Brazilian nuclear field since the 1940s. For two year Malheiros went through files, heard stories, and interviewed authorities and former representatives of this sector.

Not only does the book include novel interviews, important disclosures and pictures unknown up to now, but also reproductions of very secret documents. In one such document, the United States threatens Brazil with sanctions because it suspected that the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration was cooperating with Argentina's Carlos Menem. The book also reveals details about how fragile the security system of the nuclear sector in Brazil is, and shows the trouble in finding a definitive storage place for Brazilian nuclear waste, and how the Brazilian government poured money into the army's bankrupt nuclear projects, exported uranium to Iraq, evaded the rules of the Brazil-Germany nuclear agreement for benefit of the secret nuclear program (known as the "parallel program"), and still is supported by the Brazilian Armed Forces today.
Malheiros has been writing on nuclear energy since 1986. It is her second book. 'Brasil, A Bomba Oculta, o programa nuclear Brasileiro' was published in 1993.

The book 'Histórias Secretad do Brasil Nuclear' (WVA Editora; ISBN 85-85644087) is available in Portugese at the Assessoria de Imprensa Carla Reis, Av. Rio Branco 185/S 2103, CEP 20.041 Centro. Rio de Janeiro. Brazil.
Tel: +55 21 533 1605;
Fax: +55 21 262 3593.