Page 547 - Economia Azul - versão: inglês

even at low exergies, which can be applied nalized in January 2017 and then certified intended for maintenance and eventual ex- All PNM initiatives end up increasing
both to heat recovery of nuclear propul- with French assistance. At the moment, changes of SCPN nuclear fuel. the use of nuclear technologies at sea, as
sion and fossil fuels (LISBOA et al., APPL. the project is in the detailing phase, having As already mentioned, MB also collab- they are involved with the production of
THERMAL ENG., 2021). Figure 4 below already been granted, by the naval licens- orates with the National Nuclear Energy nuclear fuel, with the construction of nu-
illustrates a prototype of a membrane ing agency, an authorization and a partial Commission – CNEN (Comissão Nacion- clear plants for naval propulsion and with
distillation desalinator built and installed license for the construction of the medium. al de Energia Nuclear), through IPEN, in the construction of research reactors and
at the Laboratory of Technologies in Sus- The agreement with France also provid- the Brazilian Multipurpose Reactor - RMB production of radioisotopes that will con-
tainable Energies, LATES, of IPqM, with ed for the construction of four submarines project, aimed at producing radioiso- tribute to develop materials for direct or
financial support from the PROCAD-De- with diesel electric propulsion, two of which topes and radiopharmaceuticals. indirect use in marine applications.
fense Program of CAPES. are already at sea, while the remaining two
To face the challenge of building a sub- are at an advanced stage of construction. 6. Final considerations
marine hull capable of receiving a nuclear To this end, the Metallic Structures Man-
reactor, MB chose to absorb foreign tech- ufacturing Unit – UFEM and Construction In 2017, the UN proclaimed the Decade Nations Conference on Climate Change
nology for the non-nuclear part of the SCPN Shipyards – ESC and Maintenance – ESM for Ocean Sciences for Sustainable Devel- (COP26) ended on 11/12/21, but since
(the transfer of hull construction technolo- were created in Itaguaí, whose evolu- opment, with several events and initiatives then nuclear energy has been highlighted
gy did not include the nuclear propulsion tion over time appears in Figure 5 below. to be held between 2021 and 2030. One as central to combating the climate crisis.

plant), through an Agreement and Strategic In the area of the Itaguaí Naval Complex, of the focuses of this initiative is to increase The safest sources for us today are those
Partnership with France, started in 2008, which houses a naval base, in addition to knowledge about the ocean and its oppor- that have the least impact on the climate,
which gave rise to the aforementioned PRO- the shipyards, there will be a Specialized tunities, since only 5 % of the ocean floor namely nuclear, wind and solar.
SUB. The basic design of the SCPN was fi- Maintenance Complex – SME, specifically has been mapped in high resolution to date Nuclear power still represents a relative-
and it is estimated that over 1 million ma- ly small share of global energy consump-
Figure 5. Evolution of the implementation of the Metallic Structures
Manufacturing Unit (UFEM) in Itaguaí, RJ rine species remain unknown. A productive tion – around 10% of the world’s primary
and sustainable ocean is sought, with reli- energy – but it has the highest capacity
METALLIC STRUCTURES MANUFACTURING UNIT able information for society on the current factor compared to all other energy sourc-
PREPARATION OF SECTIONS and future conditions of its exploitation as es. Nuclear energy for maritime propulsion
a source of food and wealth. emerges as an attractive possibility, likely to
Nuclear technologies offer good pros- be economically viable, both due to tech-
pects for application at sea, including for nological advances and the increasingly
monitoring and protecting them. In fact, higher costs that will be imposed on pol-
knowledge about these technologies, so luting energies.
necessary for the Blue Economy, is in full The establishment and consolidation of
SHIPYARD AND NAVAL BASE development and close to being more ef- the nuclear option in maritime merchant
PREPARATION AND TESTING fectively used. Small modular reactors and transport will stimulate the shipbuilding in-
micro reactors will very soon offer new op- dustry and may eventually reduce costs in
tions for use in the marine environment. maritime trade. To this end, special attention
As environmental issues become more must be paid to naval nuclear safety and its
relevant every day, the need to mitigate wide dissemination in society, convincing it
greenhouse gas emissions from the burn- that it is possible to make it compatible with
ing of fossil fuels necessarily points to the the effective protection of crews, the envi-
Source: Brazilian Navy (2018) search for other energy options. The United ronment and the general public.

544 BLUE ECONOMIY Nuclear Technologies for the Sea 545