Wednesday, October 11 2017 09:38

ArmInfo. With the assistance  of the State Atomic Energy Corporation of  Rosatom, the  participants of the international humanitarian mission "Sail of  Spirit" and pupils of the Artanish village secondary school were  given the opportunity to visit the Armenian NPP (ANPP) and get  acquainted with the station's activities.

An employee of the training center of the ANPP Vazgen Balayan told  the guests about the history of the creation of the ANPP, the first  fire at the station in 1982 year, its conservation in 1989 and the  resumption of work in 1993, the operating principle of the power  plant and further operation plans. "If it is properly and correctly  operated, nuclear energy does not carry any threats, on the contrary,  it is economically viable, environmentally friendly and safe,"  Balayan said.

Responding to a question about whether the ANPP poses a threat,  Balayan noted that the station has 12 security installations that  automatically respond in the event of an emergency or an accident.  "The ANPP applies and implements the most advanced technological  solutions that allow to provide the necessary level of safety," "he  said, and in this context added that he does not know of the case  when employees suffered from or were exposed to radiation at the  station as a result of the emergency. According to him, the radiation  background at the ANPP is several times lower than, for example, at  the same thermal power plants. "At the ANPP all radiation wastes are  controlled and localized in order to prevent leaks," he said.

Balayan also said that in the spring of this year the station was  stopped for another planned preventive maintenance, during which also  carried out activities to extend the life of the second power unit  until 2026.  "At present, there are about 1700 employees at the  plant, while ANPP provides about 40% of all the needs of Armenia with  electricity," Balayan concluded. Participants of the humanitarian  mission "Sail of Spirit" on mock-ups were presented in detail the  principle of the work of the ANPP.

Note that the mission is attended by people with a vision impairment  and without it from Yerevan, Izhevsk, Tyumen, St. Petersburg,  Yekaterinburg, Kostroma, Revda, Kinel-Cherkasov, Tel Aviv. The  organizers and partners of the event are the State Atomic Energy  Corporation "Rosatom", the public organization "Armenian National  Federation of Disabled Persons Sports", the Russian Center of Science  and Culture in Yerevan, the "WHITE TROY" association etc.

"Sails of Spirit" is a project dedicated to the preparation and  realization of a round-the-world trip on a sailing yacht with the  participation of disabled people, including the blind. Starting in  2011, the international team makes preparatory sea crossings on a  wide variety of latitudes - from the Caribbean to the North Sea.  Simultaneously with the development of the marine business, the  participants of the voyage conduct humanitarian activities,  establishing friendly contacts with people and organizations in the  countries participating in the project. The idea of a round-the-world  trip on a sailing yacht belongs to the disabled Sergey Burlakov, who  in 2004 took part in the New York marathon and won, having overcome  42 km on prostheses. In August 2011, Sergey shared his plans with  Oleg Kolpashchikov, who became interested in the topic of inclusive  sea voyage, and already at the first meeting in Taganrog a joint  decision was made to start the project. In October 2011 an unusual  team led by the master of sports Viktor Klokov went to the first  training in Croatia. This event is considered to be the start of the  project "Sail of the Spirit".

The State Atomic Energy Corporation "Rosatom" unites about 400  enterprises and scientific institutions, including all civilian  companies of the nuclear industry of Russia, research centers and the  world's only nuclear fleet. "Rosatom" takes a leading position in the  world market of nuclear technologies. At present, Rosatom is  implementing projects to build 8 power units in Russia and 34 power  units abroad. "Rosatom" is a partner of Armenia in the project of  modernization of the Armenian NPP and provides the station with  nuclear fuel.