ArmInfo. On April 14, the turbine of the Armenian nuclear power plant (ANPP) will be stopped, the corporation reported. ArmInfo Deputy Director General of the ANPP, Director of the program for extending the life of the second power unit of the station Gera Sevikyan.
According to him, with the stopping of the turbine, the active phase of the second stage of the extension program begins, during which a huge amount of work is planned to be done on the basis of the surveys of the main equipment conducted last year. "This year, serious measures are to be taken on the turbine workshop, which generates electricity, and next year - the bulk will be delivered to the reactor plant, which will also be upgraded to ensure safe and reliable operation of the unit," said Gera Sevikyan, adding that with June 1 reactor station will be stopped for a period of two months. Thus, the ANPP, on the one hand, will continue to generate electricity, and on the other will undergo modernization. At the same time, the second turbine will continue to generate electricity. After modernization, one of the turbines will start producing electricity again, and the other will be stopped for reconstruction. Thus, the unit will continue to supply electricity to the grid, but in a volume that is twice as low as envisaged.
Earlier, in an interview with ArmInfo, Gera Sevikyan noted that in 2018 the main front of the works will be for the modernization of the reactor cooling systems, which will further increase the security of the unit, bringing it closer to world standards. In addition, in 2018, a huge amount of work is to be done to modernize equipment for generating electricity - turbines, capacitors, separators, output transformers. Within this stage, it is planned to increase the unit's capacity by 17-20% without increasing the fuel consumption, which will make it possible to increase the efficiency. At present, the unit operates at 92% capacity, which is about 380 MW. After modernization, the capacity will rise to 470 MW, which will be a solid addition, allowing without additional problems to begin servicing a loan of the Russian Federation of $ 270 million.
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 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.