Deputy Minister: NPP N2 unit  life cycle extension is an objective  necessity

ArmInfo. The development of the nuclear power engineering of Armenia is the best way from the point of  providing the country with basic energy.  The same opinion has also Hayk HArutyunyan, the Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources.

In his conversation with ArmInfo correspondent he said, that he, proceeding from the position he occupies (manages the sector if alternative energy - ArmInfo), is interested in the development of alternative enrgy sector' "I am confident that the alternative energy is the future of Armenia but, at the same time, I accept the fact that we do strictly need also a nuclear energy", Deputy Minister mentioned. He reminded that this year is the year of the 40th anniversary of Armenian nuclear power engineering. "We have accumulated a huge experience during whole the last year, trained a good staff and a skilled personnel for Armenian NPP, which should be capitalized. Armenia needs to implement the project on the NNP  2nd unit life cycle extension, as well as to built a new  nuclear power unit," Harutyunyan mentioned.  

The Deputy Minister recalled that the project of the l10-year life cycle extension is very large, and that time will be enough to take the proper decision in respect to the new unit construction.  According to Harutyunyan's words, the life cycle exstension is an objective necessity. He added, that the Ministry instantly observes the intentions of the nuclear energy world market' "We will choose the way of development that will be the most efficient, safe and feasible,' Harutyunyan mentioned.

He accentuated that, within the implementation of the project on the life cycle extension, the attention is paid first to the issues of safety and efficiency. The 10-year extension assumes serious investments - up to USD 300 mln. As a result of the project implementation, Armenia will obtain safe, modern and effectively operated power unit, and the capability will increase approximately for 50 mWt. "The project is in implementation progress now, many specialists are working on it, and all the process flows are in a correspondence to the schedule. The strict observance of the schedule will make possible to avoid tariff derivations," Deputy Minister said.

In march 2014m the Armenian Government took a decision on extension of the life cycle of the Unit 2 of Armenian Nuclear Power Plant  due to delays in the construction of the new Energy Block. The poroject on 10-year extension (until 2026)   being implemented by Armenian companies and by   Rusatom Service, which is subsidiary of the Rosatom. This works are planned to be completed in five years ( finished in 2019). Within this purpose, Russia has allocated to Armenia.USD 270 mln  state export  loan    and USD 30 mln grant.