Wednesday, March 20 2019 13:37

ArmInfo. When implementing the project to extend the life of the second power unit of the Armenian NPP, contracts were signed for the supply of equipment in the amount  of $ 205 million. Deputy Director General of the ANPP, director of  the extension program Gera Sevikyan told about this in an interview  with the ArmInfo correspondent. 

According to him, the volume of work performed and the equipment  delivered is $ 140 million. The project will increase the capacity of  the second power unit by 10-12% - from the current 380-400 MW to  420-430 MW. This, in turn, will make it possible to service the  Russian loan of $ 270 million without serious consequences. This  year, as in 2018, a large amount of work will have to be done in the  machine room of the station, the second generator and other auxiliary  systems will be replaced. It is also necessary to modernize the  reactor control and protection system, which is one of the most  important systems. In addition, repair work will be carried out at  the upper dome of the reactor, which is prescribed by the station  designer in the person of the Russian company Gidropress. Elements of  pumps, valves, parts of pipelines will also be replaced. To this end,  the reactor will be shut down for scheduled preventive maintenance  from April 15, and the turbine to be reconstructed from June of this  year. The reactor will stay on repair 110 days, and the turbine to be  reconstructed - 5-6 months.

Gera Sevikyan also noted that this year they will not be able to  fully implement the entire program, for this reason, part of the work  will be completed in 2020-2021. According to him, the postponement is  due to a later start of work. In particular, a comprehensive survey  was conducted, and towards the end of last year, there was a need for  additional work. "We are talking in particular about the need to  restore the metal characteristics of the metal of the reactor,  emergency cooling of the reactor core in case of an accident, these  are laborious and lengthy work that we will not have time to do this  year," the deputy general director of the ANPP said.

To recall the main objectives of the project to extend the life of  the 2nd unit of the Armenian NPP are the restoration of the resource  and the extension of the plant to 10 years (until 2026), increasing  the level of safety and efficiency of NPPs. In the current year, it  is envisaged to replace the second turbogenerator, the automatic  control system at the station, to carry out repair work on the  cooling towers. In addition, work will be carried out to prepare for  processing the dome of the reactor, which will be subjected to  temperature treatment (annealing), in order to increase its strength  to resist neutron fluxes. Annealing itself will be held in 2020. The  end of 2021 will complete all work on the project.

The Armenian NPP 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 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 allocated a state export credit to Armenia  for this purpose in the amount of $ 270 million and a grant of $ 30  million.