With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the world was swayed by a nation’s military might and the way Putin’s threats were cemented without batting an eyelid. Thus, the countries that supported their opponent are already aware of the possible recent nuclear bomb threat by Putin.
In June 2023, US President Joe Biden even said that Putin’s threat was real, especially regarding Russia’s use of such weapons in Belarus. Many things come to mind in a general context, one of which is: how many nuclear weapons does Brazil have? Would we have a chance if the world started a massive nuclear war?
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How many nuclear warheads are there in Brazil?
The answer is no! Although Brazil has the technological capacity and knowledge to produce weapons of war, it does not have nuclear bombs. There are several reasons why Brazil does not have nuclear warheads today. One of them is in the federal constitution itself, because according to article 21, “all nuclear activities in the national territory are only permitted for peaceful purposes and with the consent of the national congress”.
In addition, Brazil is also one of the countries that adopted the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty proposal, which does not prevent a country from developing weapons but encourages the responsibility of not having a weapon of war with such repercussions.
However, there is a nuclear program in Brazil, research on which began at the USP in the 1930s. Then, in 1947, Álvaro Alberto da Mota e Silva, a naval officer, wrote the first nuclear policy. Therefore, this rule was approved by the CSN (National Security Council) and began to be implemented in early 1951 when the CNPq (National Research Council) was formed.
In 1956, a research reactor fueled by 90% enriched uranium arrived from the United States. It was Atoms for Peace, equipment installed at the University of São Paulo with permission from the federal government.
On the other hand, Brazil continued its nuclear weapons support measures when it competed with Argentina between the 1970s and 1980s by transferring technology to West Germany, which required the help of the IAEA.
Political opinions on nuclear weapons in Brazil
During the 1950s, President Getúlio Vargas was a great enthusiast and supporter of the development of national and independent nuclear capabilities in the country. In 2019, MP Eduardo Bolsonaro even made some statements in support of nuclear bombs. But anyone who thinks that only rightwing parliamentarians hold this position is wrong.
In 2003, Science and Technology Minister of the then Lula government, Roberto Amaral, made controversial statements in an interview with the BBC. In the interview, he even went so far as to say that space and nuclear technology would be priorities for his portfolio and that he agreed with the idea that Brazil needed to acquire the knowledge needed to make the atomic bomb.
War power of other countries with atomic bombs
In June 2023, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced that his country had begun receiving Russian tactical nuclear weapons, some three times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped by the US on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Today we know that Russia and the US concentrate almost 90% of nuclear warheads and that countries like North Korea have terrifying military power.
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