Participation of the Nuclear Power Plants in the New Brazilian Electric Energy Market

A new regulation framework has been established for the Brazilian electric energy market by a law put into effect on March 15,2004. The main overall goals of this new regulation are: to allow the lowest possible tariffs for end users, while providing the necessary economic incentives for the operation of present installations (generating plants, transmission lines, distribution networks) and the expansion of the system; long-term planning of the extension of the installations required to meet the demand growth; separation of the generation, transmission and distribution activities by allocating them into different companies; new contracts between generating and distribution companies must result from bidding processes based on lowest-tariff criteria; and energy from new generating units required to meet the demand growth must be contracted by all distributing companies integrated to the National Interconnected Grid, in individual amounts proportional to their respective markets.