ArmInfo. The second unit of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant will resume supplying electricity to the electric power network of Armenia from mid-September of this year. This was announced on August 30 by Ashot Martirosyan, Chairman of the State Committee for Regulation of Nuclear Safety under the Government of Armenia, at a meeting with reporters.
However, as the head of the Committee noted, this will happen after additional studies are carried out on the subject of compliance with the safety standards developed by the Committee, which were approved by the Armenian government back in 2012. The ANPP CJSC submitted an application for the resumption of electricity production, which will be examined by the Committee specialists next week. In the absence of comments, the station will receive permission from the Committee for electricity production from September 10-15, 2019. As of June 1 of this year, Ashot Martirosyan continued, the station was stopped for scheduled preventive repairs, within the framework of which measures are also taken to extend the unit's operational life by 10 years. The need to implement the program is due to the fact that back in September 2016, the design life of the second power unit of the ANPP has expired. A huge number of organizations are involved in the project, primarily Russian one, in the person of the chief designer - the Hydropress company, the National Research Center, Kurchatov Institute, and many others. At the first stage - in 2017, large-scale studies were carried out, and at the second - in 2018-2019 work has begun on the replacement of the main equipment, first of all, the first and second classes. The entire program is planned to be completed by the end of 2021.
In general, as Ashot Martirosyan noted, the safety level of the Armenian nuclear power plant is at a satisfactory level and corresponds to the safety level of old-style units. The implementation of the program is under the control of both the IAEA and the European Union, as well as the regulatory bodies of Armenia and Russia. In terms of the scope of work, the project is comparable to 30% of the costs required for the construction of a new nuclear power unit. A significant part of these works, as noted by the head of the Committee, has already been done, tests are being carried out in some sections of the station. In particular, at night, equipment was tested to ensure the safety of reactor equipment, which showed the absence of functional changes. To recall, from June 1 to September 10, scheduled preventive maintenance is carried out at the second unit of the nuclear power plant, after which a comprehensive inspection of the work has to be carried out, and only after that a permit will be issued. The main objectives of the project to extend the life of the 2nd power unit of the Armenian nuclear power plant are to restore the resource and extend the operation of the station to 10 years (until 2026), increase the level of safety and efficiency of the nuclear power plant. This year, it is planned to replace the second turbogenerator at the station, the automatic control system, and carry out repair work on the cooling towers. In addition, work will be carried out to prepare for the treatment of the reactor dome, which will be heat treated (annealed) in order to increase its strength to resist neutron fluxes. Annealing itself will be carried out in 2020. All work on the project will be completed by the end of 2021. The Armenian NPP consists of two units with Soviet (Russian) VVER 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, in connection with the most acute energy crisis, the second power unit of the station 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 by 10 years - until 2026. The Government of the Russian Federation allocated Armenia for this purpose a state export loan in the amount of $ 270 million and a grant of $ 30 million.