Thursday, December 13 2018 16:09

ArmInfo.The proposal of the Turkish MP about the need to conduct research at the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant has political reasons, there are no technical  problems at the plant, General Director of the Armenian Nuclear Power  Plant Movses Vardanyan stated in an interview with ArmInfo.

To note, lawmaker of the Turkish parliament from the pro-Kurdish  Democratic Peoples' Party, Hadip Eksik, elected from Igdir province  bordering with Armenia, proposed to conduct research at the Armenian  nuclear power plant in order to identify all the existing risks. He  substantiated his proposal by the need to prevent damage to the  population and environment. According to him, the station is the  oldest one built on the old Soviet technology. According to him, over  the past 10 years there has been a 100% increase in cancer among the  residents of  Igdir. "The government should make a decision and take  steps towards closing the Metsamor NPP," the lawmaker said.

However, as Movses Vardanyan noted, Armenia is no less interested in  the safe operation of the plant, and the program for extending the  life of the second power unit in this direction is aimed specifically  at solving this problem. A comprehensive survey of equipment of 1-3  classes has been carried out, 40% of which are completely replaced by  modern ones. Internationally known companies with relevant licenses  produce and supply this equipment to nuclear power plants.

A huge amount of work was carried out aimed towards increasing the  level of safety of nuclear power plants. As the CEO noted, today in  the world many states use the same technologies and the same reactor,  and they have no problems. He also stated that the Armenian nuclear  power plant, the work on which is carried out under the control of  the IAEA, fully complies with all international standards, and has  all the capabilities to extend the resource.

Earlier, Movses Vardanyan reported that the Armenian Nuclear Power  Plant has enough resource for operating another 30 years. According  to him, the station has already worked for 30 years, after  modernization it will work another 10 years, thus, the remaining  lifetime of the existing second power unit will be 20 years.  Technically, this is possible, taking into account that the service  life of Russian stations with a similar VVER reactor is extended to  60 years. Nevertheless, as the general director stressed, the  decision should be made by the government of the republic.

The Armenian NPP consists of two units with Soviet (Russian) VVER  reactors. The first block was commissioned in 1976, the second - in  1980. In March 1989, after the Spitak earthquake, which killed 25  thousand people, the station was stopped. In November 1995, due to  the acute energy crisis, the second power unit of the plant with a  capacity of 407.5 MW was activated. In March 2014, the Armenian  government decided to extend the life of the second power unit for 10  years - until 2026. Completion is scheduled for 2019. The government  of the Russian Federation has allocated Armenia for these purposes a  state export credit in the amount of $ 270 million and a grant of $  30 million.