Start of the Parallel Nuclear Program

1979 marks the start of the Parallel Nuclear Program (also known as the Autonomous Program), a secret technology-development project run outside the official agreement with Germany. Born from the need to secure national sovereignty, the program focused on mastering sensitive technologies — such as uranium enrichment — that faced restrictions and international pressure.

By the late 1970s, Brazil realized that the agreement with West Germany would not deliver full mastery of the fuel cycle, especially due to the ineffectiveness of the transferred enrichment method (jet nozzle) and pressure from the Carter administration to block access to dual-use technologies.

Amid economic crisis and diplomatic isolation, the military regime chose to invest in a purely national research effort, without international safeguards, so the country would not remain technologically "hostage" to great powers.

1. 1979
   Project set up under CNEN coordination and executed by the three Armed Forces (Navy, Army, and Air Force).
2. 1980s
   Main focus on ultracentrifuge technology for uranium enrichment, the design of naval propulsion reactors, and studies on nuclear explosives.
3. September 1987
   The program becomes public when president José Sarney announces that Brazil had achieved the ability to enrich uranium independently.
4. 1990
   President Fernando Collor formally ends the secret program, merging it with the civilian program and closing the test site at Serra do Cachimbo.

The Parallel Program is directly responsible for the technological independence Brazil now enjoys. The technologies developed by the Navy during the secret period made possible the opening of the INB enrichment plant at Resende and underpin today's Brazil 2030 Energy Plan, which envisages the completion of new plants and full national supply of domestic uranium.