Tuesday, November 27 2018 19:17

ArmInfo.Armenia came close to the 20% limit on the use of credit and grant resources provided by the Russian Federation for the project to extend the second power  unit of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP). On November 27,  General Director of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant Movses Vardanyan  told reporters about the ArmInfo question.

 According to him, the established limit should not confuse anyone, a similar scheme was  used in relations with the European Union and the United States. This  is done to develop production in creditor countries. A part of the  funds used within the quota were directed to the purchase of  equipment from companies that won tenders. In particular, a turbine  generator was purchased from the Ukrainian company Turboatom,  transformers were purchased in the Ukrainian Zaporozhye, the Czech  company Skoda supplied control systems, and the German company  TAPROGGE purchased capacitors. . He also stressed that the station  purchased part of the equipment at its own expense. This, in  particular, is about fourth-class equipment, accounting for 60% of  the total equipment of the station, and which does not fall under the  credit program.  Within the framework of the project, the purchase of  equipment of classes 1-3 is funded by $ 300 million provided by the  Russian Federation ($ 270 million loan and $ 30 million - grant).  In  general, as the general director stressed, as of today, contracts for  the supply of equipment amounting to $ 207 million have been  concluded. But this does not mean that the station will not use the  remaining resources. There is a program with its own stages of  priority, according to which the process of concluding contracts will  be continued. Especially considering the existing some technical  problems, the solution of which requires funding until the end of  2021. Movses Vardanyan recalled that in 2018 the reactor installation  was shut down for 60 days, and the turbine for 6.5 months. In 2019,  the ANPP will be shut down for 105 days, during which large-scale  work is planned in the turbine hall and in the reactor hall.   Preparation for the upcoming work has already begun.  As for the  salaries of the NPP employees, then, as the general director  emphasized, this issue will be implemented through optimization.  Currently, the average salary of the ANPP employees is 300-330  thousand drams. . Nevertheless, as Movses Vardanyan stressed, it is  necessary to approach the issue of optimization with caution. "The  Armenian NPP is in a special status, there is one unit, one station,  and there are full-time units of repairmen. If allocated, this  category of employees will have three-month employment, and the  remaining nine months they will be unemployed. Meanwhile, these are  special specialists who special relationship. They cannot work at  other energy facilities. As a result, in a year or two we will lose  this potential and face both financial and technical problems, "the  general director of the Armenian NPP stressed.  Let us remind that  earlier during the live broadcast on his Facebook page, Acting Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that "Extra" 500 employees were  registered at the Armenian NPP, which, in fact, occupied additional  posts that were not needed . Nevertheless, the prime minister  continued, these people work and receive wages, which puts additional  pressure on the tariff in the form of 3 billion drams. "This means  that this amount is taken into account in the tariff," - said the  head of government. According to him, so many new posts appeared for  obvious reasons.  - The authorities arranged for people to work in  the context of elections, which caused the formation of the problem.  At the same time, he noted that these people will not be dismissed  immediately, since in this case new social problems will arise. "We  must do everything so that in the labor market and in the economy, in  general, the situation has changed so that in solving one problem,  not creating another," said Pashinyan.  Earlier, the Director General  of the Armenian NPP Movses Vardanyan told ArmInfo that 1812 people  work at the station with an average salary of 300 thousand drams. For  Armenia, the general director continued, this is a rather big amount,  but if we compare it with the average salary of employees of foreign  NPPs, it becomes obvious that this is a very small amount. "It is for  this reason that the ANPP staff constantly raise this issue," noted  Movses Vardanyan. The Armenian NPP consists of two units with Soviet  (Russian) VVER reactors. The first block was commissioned in 1976,  the second - in 1980.