Energy Minister and Rosatom head to discuss in Moscow an interim report on implementation of program to extend the life of second power unit of Armenian NPP

ArmInfo. The Minister of  Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources of Armenia Ashot  Manukyan will visit Moscow on November 21-22, where he will discuss  with the head of Rosatom State Corporation Alexei Likhachev an  interim report on the implementation of the program to extend the  life of the second power unit of the Armenian nuclear power plant.  This was reported by the press service of the government.

According to the source, during the meeting the sides will also  specify the terms of the project implementation. Upon his return to  Yerevan, the Armenian Minister within three days undertakes to submit  a report on the results of the visit to the government apparatus.

The general director noted that until 2021 the plant has a license to  produce electricity.  Nevertheless, next year, due to long downtime  (six months), the plant will not have 1.860 billion kWh of  electricity, but this fact will not become the basis for applying to  the regulatory body to increase the tariff from the nuclear power  plant. "There are savings from previous years, due to which the  tariff will not increase," the ANPP Director General said.

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 plant's work was stopped. In November  1995, in connection with the most acute energy crisis, the second  power unit of the plant with a capacity of 407.5 MW was involved. In  March 2014, the Armenian government decided to extend the life of the  second power unit by 10 years - until 2026. The project is  coordinated by the subsidiary structure of the State Corporation  Rosatom - JSC Rusatom Service. Completion of work is planned for  2019. The Government of the Russian Federation allocated a $ 270  million state export loan to Armenia and a $ 30 million grant for  these purposes. In March 2015, the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC)  was established to implement the program. So far, there have been  five meetings of the JCC.