Othon Pinheiro da Silva

Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva (born 25 February 1939) is a Brazilian physicist, mechanical and nuclear engineer, vice admiral of the Brazilian Navy Naval Engineers and Technicians Corps. He had also served as president of state-owned company Eletronuclear.

Othon's biography is deeply related to the Brazilian nuclear program. He is known and received many homages for being one of the main responsibles for the development of a technology for uranium enrichment called ultracentrifugation. This allowed the country to be independent for dominating all of the nuclear power commodity chain, ensuring the construction of the nuclear propulsion submarine SN Álvaro Alberto (SN-10) and the supply of the country's power plants.

The vice admiral was arrested for the first time in Operation Radioactivity, 16th Phase of Operation Car Wash, triggered by the accusation of Dalton Avanci, former executive of contractor Camargo Corrêa. Later, he was arrested again in Operation Pripyat, an offshoot of the previous one, which investigated accusations of corruption in Eletronuclear.

Othon was convicted by judge Marcelo Bretas to 43 years in prison and was kept in the Brazilian Marine Corps headquarters of Meriti River in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro. Silva was later released due a habeas corpus granted in October 2017 by the Federal Regional Court of the 2nd Region (TRF-2). In 2022, TRF-2 reviewed his conviction and replaced the prison sentence with restrictions on rights.