ArmInfo. Two sets of the system of industrial anti-seismic protection (SIAP) for the Armenian nuclear power plant will be ready by the end of April 2018. This was announced on April 12 in Yerevan on the margins of a seminar organized by veterans of nuclear energy, the corr. ArmInfo Director General of the Armenian Research Institute for the Exploitation of Nuclear Power Plants (Armatom), Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Vahram Petrosyan.
As he said, already on April, 13th tests of systems will begin, after that procedure of their transfer to the customer will begin. Vahram Petrosyan did not exclude the possibility that the successful implementation of the project could become a precedent, and the institute will start receiving orders from other nuclear power plants.
The systems of seismic protection allow to react operatively at seismic risks. In particular, the SIAS will automatically shut down the reactor installation in case of an earthquake from 6 points and higher. At the same time, the Armenian NPP itself is capable of withstanding tremors in 9 points. "We are in no way inferior to foreign analogues in terms of product quality, which is only natural, since we occupied a monopoly position regarding SIAS devices not only in the former USSR, but also in other countries using the VVER reactor," said the director general of the research institute, adding that the last time such a device was installed at the station in 2005, and today they require replacement.
The Armenian nuclear power plant consists of two units with Soviet (Russian) WWER reactors. The first unit was commissioned in 1976, the second - in 1980. In March 1989, after the Spitak earthquake, which killed 25 thousand people, the station's work was stopped. In November 1995, in connection with the most acute energy crisis, the second power unit of the station with a capacity of 407.5 MW was involved. In March 2014, the Armenian government decided to extend the lifetime of the second power unit by 10 years - until 2027. The project is coordinated by the subsidiary structure of the State Corporation of Rosatom - Rusatom Service JSC. Completion of work is planned for 2019. The Government of the Russian Federation allocated to Armenia for these purposes a state export loan worth $ 270 million and a grant of $ 30 million.