Work started Tuesday on a third nuclear reactor in Brazil after being stalled for 24 years, the state company Electronuclear said.
The reactor, in the Angra dos Reis nuclear power plant 150 kilometers (90 miles) on the coast south of Rio de Janeiro, received final authorization from the National Nuclear Energy Commission.
The cost of Angra III, as the reactor is known, is 4.9 billion dollars. It will be operational in 2015 and produce 1,405 megawatts.
Energy Minister Marcio Zimmerman last week announced Brazil would build up to eight new nuclear power plants over the next 20 years to feed its growing energy needs.
Currently, 85 percent of Brazil's energy output comes from hydroelectric plans, while less than five percent comes from the Angra nuclear facility.
Work on Angra III started in 1974 but was halted in 1985.
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