Thursday, July 19 2018 18:11

ArmInfo. Unlike other generation facilities, nuclear power engineering does not forgive  mistakes. This was stated by the chairman of the Union of Veterans of  Atomic Energy of Armenia, former General Director of the Armenian NPP  Suren Azatyan at a press conference in Yerevan on July 19.

According to him, the problems of the Armenian nuclear energy should  be weighed, taking into account all the existing challenges. In this  context, the Union sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Armenia  with a proposal to organize hearings with the participation of all  interested parties with the obligatory presence of the Minister of  Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources. The specialist recalled  that at present the station is implementing a program to extend the  life of the second power unit, which should be put into operation  before December 31 of this year. Otherwise, the daily simple Armenian  NPP will be a heavy burden on consumers.

"Taking into account the lowest tariff from the nuclear power plant  at 8.9 drams per 1 kW / h of electricity, a simple station will force  the operator to purchase four times more expensive electricity from  thermal energy facilities, which is 240 million drams daily," Suren  Azatyan said referring to the data head of the Ministry of Energy. He  also called for the implementation of the program to calculate all  the nuances, especially in terms of ensuring the safety and quality  of ongoing work.

Suren Azatyan mentioned the problem and extremely low involvement of  the Armenian companies in the project. "I suggested that Russian  colleagues consider the creation of a consortium of domestic  companies for subcontracting programs, but this initiative was not  met with understanding," said the former general director. He  expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that the work that  Armenian specialists can perform has been redirected by the Russian,  who receive a salary of four or even five times more than their  Armenian counterparts. "All this can not but cause concern and can  lead to outspoken sabotage by the workers themselves, especially  since a significant part of the work does not require financial  investments at all, it is enough to use the opportunities that worked  only six years, the first block as a donor for the second" Suren  Azatyan said.

He also did not exclude the possibility of going beyond the budget of  the credit program financed by the government of the Russian  Federation. "If everything continues in the same spirit, then  everything is possible," the former head of the station said,  responding to a question from ArmInfo. He also noted that station  personnel should be present during the work or installation of new  equipment, which, in principle, does not happen. "Russian experts  will ultimately leave, and the operator will have to work with new  equipment, which has only a general idea," Suren Azatyan said,  pointing out also the importance of training young personnel for the  country's nuclear energy. Recall that the general contractor of the  project worth $ 300 million is the company "Rusatom Service", and the  customer - the Armenian nuclear power plant. The program is  implemented with a $ 270 million loan from the Russian government and  a $ 30 million grant.  The project is expected to be implemented by  the end of 2019, which will allow the station to operate for another  10 years - until the end of 2026. However, the Armenian government  does not exclude the possibility of extending the life of the second  power unit after 2026. 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.