RA Prime Minister: Armenian government expects to extend the life of  the second power unit of the Armenian NPP to 2040

ArmInfo. The Armenian government expects to extend the life of the second power unit of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP) until 2040. Prime Minister of the Republic  of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan stated in an interview with the radio station Ekho Moskvi.

By the specified date, as the head of the government noted, steps  will be taken to build a new nuclear power plant. "I'm counting on  Russia's help in this matter, because at the moment we do not have  enough financial resources to implement this project, but if our  Russian colleagues help us, we will gladly accept this assistance,"  said Nikol Pashinyan, adding that Armenia is not going to shut down  the nuclear power plant.

As ArmInfo analysts note, the Armenian prime minister first  officially announced the terms of the possible extension of the  operating second power unit of the ANPP until 2040. Previously, all  officials left the answer to this question, so as not to toughen the  already harsh position of the European Union, insisting on the  soonest closure of the bloc. Last year, the general director of the  station, Movses Vardanyan, ArmInfo that after 2026, when the unit  must be stopped, work will be carried out for its extension for  another five years, after which again after carrying out the  corresponding surveys of the main equipment, for another 10 years.  Thus, it is planned that the station will work until 2040. Prior to  this, the government of the country should determine the modification  and capacity of the new block in order to find sources of financing  and start implementing the project. At present, the program for the  extension of the life of the N2 power unit is continuing at the ANPP.  According to the deputy director general of the station, the director  of the program for the extension of Hera Sevikyan, since June 1 this  year.  The reactor of the station was stopped for a period of two  months. In 2018, the main front of the work will be to modernize the  reactor cooling systems, which will further improve the safety of the  unit, approaching 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 NPP unit  operates at 92% capacity, which is about 380 megawatts. After  modernization, the capacity will increase to 470-480 megawatts, which  will become a solid addition, allowing without additional problems to  begin servicing the loan of the Russian Federation.

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.  Completion of work is planned for 2019. The Government of the Russian  Federation allocated a $ 270 million state export loan to Armenia for  these purposes and a grant of $ 30 million.