Brazil and the Refusal to the Additional Protocol: Is It Time to Review this Position?
Rev. Carta Inter., Belo Horizonte, v. 16, n. 1, e1108, 2021
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Brazil and the Additional Protocol
The Federal Constitution of Brazil, in Title III, Chapter II, Article 21, paragraph
XXIII, point a), determines that the use of nuclear energy is exclusively for
peaceful purposes: All nuclear activity within the national territory will only
be admitted with peaceful purposes and subject to the approval of the National
Congress (Brazil 1988).
Since the democratisation of the country in the second half of the eighties,
the Brazilian State has renounced nuclear weapons programmes and has opted
for the peaceful use of nuclear energy, without renouncing the domain of the
uranium enrichment cycle, nor the development of nuclear research, and its use
for power generation and propulsion for ships.
At the end of the 1990s, Brazil has already inserted in the nuclear weapons
non-proliferation regime, becoming a signatory of the following treaties: the
Treaty of Tlatelolco, the Quadripartite Agreement (INFCIRC/435),
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the NPT,
the Complete Prohibition Nuclear Test Treaty (CTBT), the Antarctic Treaty, the
Outer Space Treaty, and the Seabed Arms Control Treaty. Also, the country has
been a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group since April 1996.
Even before becoming a State Party to the NPT, Brazil had already signed a
CSA with the IAEA. This agreement, known as the Quadripartite Agreement and
referred to in the IAEA as INFCIRC/435, was signed in 1991 by Brazil, Argentina,
the IAEA, and the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of
Nuclear Materials (ABACC),
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entering into force in 1994.
Through the Quadripartite Agreement, both Brazil and Argentina placed all
nuclear material and all nuclear activities under IAEA safeguards. The agreement
applies two sets of measures. The first set deals with the verification of reports
on nuclear materials and activities declared by the two states parties (Argentina
and Brazil). Some complementary measures are taken to ensure the accuracy
11 Agreement of 13 December 1991 Between the Republic of Argentina, The Federative Republic of Brazil, The
Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials, and The International Atomic
Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards (see IAEA, INFCIRC/435).
12 The Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials was created on July 18,
1991, with the signing of the Agreement between Argentina and Brazil for the Exclusively Peaceful Use of
Nuclear Energy. After having been approved by the Congresses of the two countries, the Agreement entered
into force in December 1991. The principal mission of ABACC is to guarantee Argentina, Brazil and the
international community that all the existing nuclear materials and facilities in the two countries are being
used for exclusively peaceful purposes (ABACC, About).