Brazil's government is planning to build a nuclear power plant on the São Francisco River in the semi-arid Caatinga region, which is experiencing a long and severe drought (see R. L. M. Novaes et al. Nature 498, 170; 2013). Now is not the time to put the area's most important water resource under even more pressure.

The river is already heavily used as a water supply and for power generation, irrigation, aquaculture, transport and tourism. The Caatinga region is home to traditional communities whose main livelihoods are fisheries and agriculture. The power plant would displace these communities, resulting in the loss of physical assets and undermining their cultural identity. Water from the reactor cooling system could raise the river's temperature, threatening the survival and balance of ecological networks.

As with the Belo Monte dam, the government is again pushing ahead with a major infrastructure project with seemingly little thought for the social, cultural or environmental consequences.