Brazil might get nuclear-powered submarines even before Australia
The country has been working on the technology for decades
Sep 27th 2021
NUCLEAR SUBMARINES have caught the world’s eye in recent weeks. On September 15th America, Australia and Britain signed the “AUKUS” pact to help Australia build nuclear subs, a military capability so potent that America has never shared it with any ally other than Britain.
That has whet appetites elsewhere. On September 26th two out of the four candidates to succeed Suga Yoshihide as leader of the LDP, and thus prime minister of Japan—including the frontrunner, Taro Kono—gave their backing for Japan to acquire its own nuclear-powered subs.
Yet on the other side of the Earth from Perth, where the Australian boats may one day be based, another middle-ranking power has been quietly honing the same technology for far longer.
At the Itaguaí naval complex near Rio de Janeiro, and other sites scattered across Brazil, hundreds of engineers are slowly designing and piecing together parts of the Álvaro Alberto, a nuclear-powered submarine named after a former vice-admiral and pioneer of the country’s nuclear programme. If all goes to plan, it could land in the water at Madeira island in Itaguaí in the early 2030s, before Australia gets a sniff at its own subs. That would not only make Brazil the first non-nuclear-armed country to operate a nuclear-powered submarine; it would also bolster the country’s ambitions to become a major naval power.
economist.com
The construction is part of the strategic partnership signed between France and Brazil in 2009, which also included the total transfer of technology and support for the construction of four enlarged conventionally-powered Scorpène-class submarines.
Brazilian SSN Alvaro Alberto to be commissioned in 2034 Naval News June 2021 Navy Forces Maritime Defense IndustryPOSTED ON FRIDAY, 04 JUNE 2021 14:10
According to a tweet published by Victor Barreira / Defence 360° on June 4, 2021, the Brazilian nuclear-powered attack submarine SSN Alvaro Alberto is scheduled to be commissioned in 2034.
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 Brazilian submarine Riachuelo (Picture source: Twitter account of Sankalan Chattopadhyay)
The Brazilian submarine Álvaro Alberto is a nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) under construction for the Brazilian Navy, by the Itaguaí Construções Navais (ICN). The construction is part of the strategic partnership signed between France and Brazil in 2009, which also included the total transfer of technology and support for the construction of four enlarged conventionally-powered Scorpène-class submarines.
Álvaro Alberto has many similarities to his conventional predecessor of the Scorpène class. The first Brazilian nuclear submarine will have a beam of 9.8 m (32 ft) to accommodate the pressurized water nuclear reactor (PWR). Its 100 m (330 ft) length and 6,000-ton displacement will be propelled by a 48 MW (64,000 hp) fully-electric propulsion system.
The Scorpène-class submarines are a class of diesel-electric attack submarines jointly developed by the French Company Naval Group (formerly DCNS) and the Spanish company Navantia. The Scorpène class of submarines has four subtypes including the CM-2000 conventional diesel-electric version, the AM-2000 air-independent propulsion (AIP) derivative, the downsized CA-2000 coastal submarine, and the enlarged S-BR for the Brazilian Navy, without AIP. The Scorpéne-class submarines are in service with Chile, Malaysia, India, and Brazil. Over fourteen Scorpène submarines were sold by Naval Group internationally.
https://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php/naval-news/naval-news-archive/2021/june/10251-brazilian-ssn-alvaro-alberto-to-be-commissioned-in-2034.html
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