Angra 1 comes online

1985 marks Brazil's consolidated entry into the era of commercial nuclear power generation with Angra 1 in full operation. Named the Almirante Álvaro Alberto Nuclear Power Plant and sited at Angra dos Reis (RJ), it became the country's first power reactor to feed electricity into the national grid on a commercial scale, after a long and troubled construction and testing period.

Angra 1 was conceived in the late 1960s under the "Greater Brazil" outlook, amid economic optimism and pressure to expand the energy mix to sustain industrialization.

In 1971, the government chose Westinghouse's American technology, signing a contract that in practice delivered a "black box": Brazil got a turnkey plant but no full access to core technical details nor mastery of the fuel cycle, and remained dependent on imports of enriched uranium from the U.S.

1. April 1972
   Official start of civil works at Itaorna, Angra dos Reis.
2. 1977
   Original target date for start-up, repeatedly delayed by planning flaws and unexpected technical issues.
3. April 1982
   The plant is synchronized to the national grid for the first time, starting an exhaustive phase of power tests.
4. November 1984
   Formal start of commercial operation of Angra 1.
5. 1985
   The plant overcomes initial commissioning issues and begins to run continuously on a commercial scale, delivering the first real economic results.

Angra 1 was the pioneer plant that structured Brazil's nuclear sector. Lessons learned from its design flaws and maintenance issues allowed Furnas (and later Eletronuclear) to develop the support infrastructure and trained teams that would be vital for operating Angra 2 and sustaining the country's nuclear competence in the decades that followed.