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Brazil's big oil find 'justifies nuclear sub'
THE discovery this month of a vast offshore oil reserve justifies Brazil's plan to build a nuclear submarine because it would be used to protect the find, says the country's defence minister. Brazil has been talking about building a nuclear submarine for decades, but the project got a boost in July when President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced £260 million in funding for uranium enrichment and the submarine programme.

And Defence Minister Nelson Jobim said: "When you have a large natural source of wealth discovered in the Atlantic, it's obvious you need the means to protect it." He said Brazil must take steps to guard the Tupi field and its 58 billion barrels of oil reserves from other nations andfrom "actions from the area of terror".
A few oil-fired frigates would do the job just as well and would a LOT cheaper. This is about chest-thumping and being one-up on the Argentinians and Chileans.

Posted by: Seafarious 2007-11-18
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=207852