Tuesday, March 12 2019 22:49

ArmInfo. On  March 12, Yerevan hosted the eighth meeting of the Joint Armenian-Russian coordination Committee for the project of modernization and lifetime extension of unit 2 of Armenian NPP.

The meeting participants discussed the action plan for 2019 and a programme of activities until 2021, the operating conditions of unit 2 of Armenian NPP after the outage, as well as the renewal of the intergovernmental agreement on cooperation of Russia and Armenia for this project. The parties also considered the issue  of training the pilot project for the removal and processing of the  batch of spent nuclear fuel. The meeting discussed bilateral  cooperation of Armenia and Russia in the humanitarian sphere and  training of personnel for nuclear power. In December 2018, has  started recruiting candidates from Armenia for study in the leading  technical universities of Russia, including National research nuclear  University MEPhI, for undergraduate and graduate programs. 

At the 2019/20 school year 4 allocated quotas for Armenian students.  Also this year was the final of the Olympiad in physics and  mathematics, initiated by MEPI. Winners and prize-winners of the  Olympiad will receive the benefits upon admission and the opportunity  of free education in the leading technical universities of Russia. To  promote education in nuclear energy at the National Polytechnic  University of Armenia regularly holds educational events with the  participation of Russian experts and the representatives of Armenia  participate in international cultural and humanitarian projects. In  General, the results of the meetings, the sides agreed to strengthen  cooperation in the formation of public acceptance and promotion of  nuclear energy in the Republic of Armenia. 

Recall that the main objectives of the project to extend the  operation of the 2nd power unit of the Armenian NPP are the recovery  of the resource and the extension of the station to 10 years (to  2026), increasing the level of safety and efficiency of nuclear power  plants. This year it is planned to replace the station's second  turbine-generator, automatic control system, to carry out the repair  works on cooling towers. In addition, will be undertaken in the  preparation to the treatment of the dome of the reactor, which will  be conducted by a heat treatment (annealing) to increase its strength  to resist the neutron flow. The annealing will be conducted in 2020.  All work on the project will be completed by the end of 2021. The  Armenian NPP consists of two units with Soviet (Russian) reactors  VVER. The first unit was commissioned in 1976, second in 1980. In  March 1989 after the Spitak earthquake that killed 25 thousand  people, the work of the station was stopped. In November 1995, in  connection with the acute energy crisis were involved in the second  unit of the power plant 407,5 MW. In March 2014, the government of  Armenia adopted a decision on prolongation of term of operation of  the second unit for 10 years - until 2026. Completion of works is  scheduled for 2019. The government of Armenia has allocated for these  purposes of the state export loan of $270 million and a grant of $30  million