RIO DE JANEIRO - The Brazilian government will decided towards the end of the year whether it will build Angra III, the country's third nuclear power plant.

The power plant, like the existing ones, would be located on a beach of Angra dos Reis municipality, 180 km from Rio de Janeiro, and would generate 1,300 megawatts. Equipment has already been purchased for it, and requires 20 million dollars in maintenance costs annually.

Furthermore, completion of the site would meet a demand for making viable the production of enriched uranium by the state-run Brazilian Nuclear Industries. The world market for this energy source moves 11 billion dollars a year.

These motives, set forth by the nuclear industry's technicians and scientists, are generally rejected by environmentalists.

Development of nuclear sector is a strategic and economic matter, as well as being an energy source, Aquilino Senra, professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, told Tierramérica.

SANTIAGO - On Oct. 29, 2003, La Farfana wastewater treatment plant was inaugurated in the Chilean capital. It is the country's largest such facility, but today is the center of conflict due to the foul odors emanating from the site.

Aguas Andinas, which owns the plant, said Oct. 26 that it would provide ''an immediate solution to the problem of foul odors,'' after Chile's President Ricardo Lagos instructed his ambassador in Spain to make a formal complaint to the owners of the firm, the Spanish companies Aguas de Barcelona and Suez.

The population most affected by the smell emanating from the sewage plant are low-income families.

The plant has already been fined by the environmental authorities, and now the government has ordered that the company may not bill its services until the foul smells are eliminated, meaning losses of up to three million dollars in revenue a month.

HAVANA - A tiny, ancient plant, known in Spanish as palma corcho (Microcycas calocoma) is considered the world's oldest ''living fossil'' and grows in a village of Cuba's warm, arid east.

Measuring 10 cm in height, it can be found in the herbarium of Cuban researcher Manuel Caluf, located in El Caney, Santiago province, some 900 km east of Havana.

This species, which existed during the Paleozoic era, 250 million years ago, is now in danger of extinction. It is very difficult to find the palma corcho outside its natural habitat in the island's mountain valleys.

There are thought to be around a thousand of these tiny plants in Cuba, and some may be as old as a thousand years.

The unique climate of El Caney is characterized by an average temperature of 25 degrees Celsius, relative humidity of 70 to 90 percent, and annual rainfall of 1,400 mm.

CARACAS - Under downpours during a rainy season that extended beyond the usual dates, dozens of workers are building a 150-meter slope to channel the Guaire River, which crosses through the Venezuelan capital.

The high waters of the Guaire are overflowing the canal that normally contains it, and threaten the stability of the Francisco Fajarlo highway, the main thoroughfare in Caracas.

''The lives of thousands of people could be in danger,'' Andrés Parucho, with the Environment Ministry's infrastructure unit, told Tierramérica.

Earlier this year, the wall of section of the canal gave way, and a 20-meter crack caused concern that a section of the highway could eventually collapse.

The repairs will cost 416,000 dollars and are expected to be complete by the end of the year. ''Usually such work is done during the dry season, but we have to prevent the worst from happening now,'' Parucho said.