Head of Committee: The license to operate the dry spent nuclear fuel  storage facility of the Armenian NPP will be extended for 30 years

ArmInfo. The license to operate the dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) of the Armenian NPP will be extended for another 30 years. This was  announced on August 30 at a meeting with reporters, answering a  question from ArmInfo, Ashot Martiroian, Chairman of the Nuclear  Safety CommitҐҐ under the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

He recalled that in 2000 the Committee issued a license to the  Armenian Nuclear Power Plant for a period of 20 years, and its  validity expires next year. As a rule, Ashot Martirosyan continued,  spent nuclear fuel can be stored in such storage facilities for 300  years. Nevertheless, a license is issued for a period of 50-70 years,  however, taking into account the importance of periodically  conducting additional studies with a view to ensuring safety, the  Committee issued a license to the Armenian NPP for a period of 20  years.  Currently, the storage is only 20% full. Of course, as the  Chairman of the Committee noted, in this case, we are talking about a  storage facility with low-level spent nuclear fuel, while today we  should think about storage facilities with medium-active spent fuel.

Answering ArmInfo's question about the prospects of SNF removal from  the station to the territory of Russia, which was announced at a  meeting of the Joint Coordinating Committee for the implementation of  the program to extend the life of the second power unit of the  Armenian NPP, Ashot Martirosyan pointed out the political part of  this project. He emphasized that SNF can be exported exclusively by  rail, this probability is reduced to zero in the territory of  Azerbaijan, and in Georgia it is fraught with problems in Abkhazia.  However, as Ashot Martirosyan noted, if the issue is resolved at the  political level, it will be possible to think about the technical  side of solving the problem.

The Chairman of the Committee is also skeptical about the possibility  of building a "repository" for spent nuclear fuel in Armenia. "This  issue requires careful research, the problem here is the availability  of appropriate areas in Armenia, conducting geological,  geological-chemical and environmental assessments," Ashot Martirosyan  said.

It should be noted that according to the official website of the  Nuclear Safety CommitҐҐ under the Government of the Republic of  Armenia, the dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel of the  Armenian nuclear power plant was used until 2020. On August 1, 2000  the federal inspectorate for nuclear and radiation safety authority  of the Republic issued a license for the operation of the storage  facility by the Armenian NPP for a period of 20 years. NUHOMS-56 type  storage consists of 11 horizontal modules with 616 insulating  containers. In 2005, the Armenian parliament decided to expand the  storage, which makes it possible to store up to 1890 containers for  at least 50 years.  To recall, a program is currently being  implemented at the Armenian NPP to extend the life of the second  unit. The main objectives of the project 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 nuclear power plants. 

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) WWER reactors. The first  unit was commissioned in 1976, the second - in 1980. In March 1989,  after the Spitak earthquake, 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 deadline 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.