Brazil and weapons of mass destruction In the 1970s and 80s , during the military regime , Brazil had a secret program intended to develop nuclear weapons . The program was dismantled in 1990 , five years after the military regime ended , and Brazil is considered free of weapons of mass destruction . Brazil is one of several countries that have forsworn nuclear weapons under the terms of the Nuclear Non - Proliferation Treaty but possess the key technologies needed to produce nuclear weapons . Nuclear program . In the 1950s , President Getúlio Vargas encouraged the development of independent national nuclear capabilities . During the 1970s and 80s , Brazil and Argentina embarked on a nuclear competition . Through technology transfers from West Germany , which did not require IAEA safeguards , Brazil pursued a covert nuclear weapons program known as the " Parallel Program " , with enrichment facilities ( including small scale centrifuge enrichment plants , a limited reprocessing capability , and a missile program ) . In 1987 , President Sarney announced that Brazil had enriched uranium to 20 % . In 1990 , President Fernando Collor de Mello symbolically closed the Cachimbo test site , in Pará , and exposed the military ’ s secret plan to develop a nuclear weapon . Brazil ' s National Congress opened an investigation into the Parallel Program . Congress members visited numerous facilities , including the Institute of Advanced Studies ( IEAv ) in São José dos Campos . They also interviewed key players in the nuclear program , such as former President João Figueiredo and retired Army General Danilo Venturini , the former head of the National Security Council under Figueiredo . The congressional investigation exposed secret bank accounts , code - named " Delta " , which were managed by the National Nuclear Energy Commission and used for funding the program . The congressional report revealed that the IEAv had designed two atomic bomb devices , one with a yield of twenty to thirty kilotons and a second with a yield of twelve kilotons . The same report revealed that Brazil ' s military regime secretly exported eight tons of uranium to Iraq in 1981 . In 1991 , Brazil and Argentina renounced their nuclear rivalry . On 13 December 1991 , they signed the Quadripartite agreement , at the IAEA headquarters , creating the Brazilian – Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials and allowing fullscope IAEA safeguards of Argentine and Brazilian nuclear installations . Brazil officially opened the Resende enrichment plant in May 2006 . Brazil ' s enrichment technology development , and the plant itself , involved substantial discussions with the IAEA and its constituent nations . The dispute came down to whether IAEA inspectors would be allowed to inspect the machines themselves . The Brazilian government did not allow the inspection of the centrifugal cascade halls , arguing that this would reveal technological secrets ( probably relating to the use of a magnetic lower bearing in place of the more common mechanical bearing ) . The Brazilian authorities stated that , as Brazil is not part of any " axis of evil " , the pressure for full access to inspection - even in universities - could be construed as an attempt to pirate industrial secrets . They also claimed that their technology is better than that of the United States and France , mainly because the centrifugal axis is not mechanical , but electromagnetic . Eventually , after extensive negotiations , agreement was reached that while not directly inspecting the centrifuges , the IAEA would inspect the composition of the gas entering and leaving the centrifuge . Then U . S . Secretary of State , Colin Powell , stated in 2004 that he was sure that Brazil had no plans to develop nuclear weapons . Technological capability . It is likely that Brazil has retained the technological capacity and knowhow to produce and deliver a nuclear weapon . Experts at the Los Alamos National Laboratory have concluded that in view of its previous nuclear activities , Brazil is in a position to produce nuclear weapons within three years . If Brazil decided to pursue a nuclear weapon , the centrifuges at the Resende enrichment plant could be reconfigured to produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons . Even a small enrichment plant like Resende could produce several nuclear weapons per year , but only if Brazil was willing to do so openly . The Brazilian Navy is currently developing a nuclear submarine fleet , and in 2007 authorised the construction of a prototype submarine propulsion reactor . In 2008 , France agreed to transfer technology to Brazil for the joint development of the nuclear submarine hull . Facilities . Aramar Experimental Center . The Aramar Experimental Center ( ) located in Iperó in the State of São Paulo , was inaugurated in 1988 as the first uranium - only enrichment plant in Brazil . The facility is run by the Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission ( CNEN ) and the Brazilian Navy . In addition to the Centrifuge Enrichment Plant , the facility also hosts an Isotopic Enrichment Laboratory and several Small Nuclear Centers ( , or PCNs ) . The enrichment laboratories are under the National Safeguards control and national inspections are carried out by the Safeguards Division of CNEN . Cachimbo Test Site . The Cachimbo test site , officially named Brigadeiro Velloso Test Site ( ) , is located in the State of Pará and covers 45 , 000 square kilometres , an area larger than the Netherlands . It is within this military area that a 320 meters - deep hole at the Cachimbo Mountain Range was site for nuclear explosives tests . The shaft has been public knowledge since 1986 and was allegedly abandoned in September 1990 , when President Fernando Collor de Mello used a small shovel to symbolically seal up the hole . Army ' s Technology Center ( Guaratiba ) . The Army ' s Technology Center ( , or CTEx ) located in Guaratiba in the State of Rio de Janeiro is the site of the plutonium - producing reactor facility , known as ' The Atlantic Project ' , managed by the Brazilian Army ' s Special Projects Institute – IPE . Reports indicate that the gas - graphite reactor would be capable of producing plutonium for atomic bombs . Aerospace Technology and Science Department ( São José dos Campos ) . The Aerospace Technology and Science Department ( , or DCTA ) is a research facility located in São José dos Campos , in the State of São Paulo where nuclear research is also conducted . Resende ( Engenheiro Passos ) Nuclear Fuel Factory . The Resende Nuclear Fuel Facility ( , or FCN ) is a nuclear enrichment facility located in Resende , in the State of Rio de Janeiro . The plant is managed by the Nuclear Industries of Brazil ( , or INB ) and by the Brazilian Navy . Currently the plant produces enough HEU for 26 to 31 implosion type warheads . Legislation and conventions . Brazil ' s 1988 Constitution states in Article 21 that " all nuclear activity within the national territory shall only be admitted for peaceful purposes and subject to approval by the National Congress " . Brazil acceded to the Nuclear Non - Proliferation Treaty on September 18 , 1998 , ratified the Geneva Protocol on 28 August 1970 , the Biological Weapons Convention on 27 February 1973 , and the Chemical Weapons Convention on 13 March 1996 . Brazil signed the Treaty of Tlatelolco in 1967 , making Brazil a nuclear - weapon - free zone . Brazil is also an active participant in the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group , multinational agencies concerned with reducing nuclear proliferation by controlling the export and re - transfer of materials that may be applicable to nuclear weapon development . External links . Official sites Scientific sites Academic Sites