ANPP scheduled stop scheduled for May 15

ArmInfo. The stop of the second power unit of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant for scheduled preventive repairs is scheduled for May 15, 2020 and will last 65  days.  Hakob Vardanyan, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration  and Infrastructures, told reporters about this on November 10 during  a visit to the ANPP.

He stressed that as part of the preventive work, the introduction of  security systems of various levels is expected, as well as the  construction of a new open distribution substation, since the  existing one was built in 1974-76.

In turn, the ANPP Director General Movses Vardanyan noted that in the  coming year a study will be carried out on the condition of the  reactor vessel, which is carried out every 4 years. The last time  such a study, he emphasized, was conducted in 2016. According to  Vardanyan, in the next two, work will be completed on the development  of a large-scale simulator for the Armenian nuclear power plant,  which is carried out with US support. <At the moment, we are  negotiating with American partners to get the rest of the funds. If  US assistance is not satisfactory, then I believe that we will  replenish it with our own resources and complete the work in the next  2 years, in particular, we will increase the level of safety of  nuclear power plant operation, and we will be able to retrain  personnel more quickly, "he said.

Earlier, Director General of the Armatom Research Institute Vahram  Petrosyan reported that work on a large-scale simulator was carried  out with the assistance of the US Department of Energy. Its need was  determined by the demand of the time and aimed at improving the  professional skills of the Armenian NPP employees. He emphasized that  if such Chernobyl NPPs were used simulators, tragedy could have been  avoided, since the experiment would have been carried out not on the  reactor itself, but on the learning device.The professor also  announced the launch of repair systems the fourth-generation  simulator, the main purpose of which will be training and retraining  of repair and maintenance personnel of the ANPP, information support  during the operation and repair of plant equipment, improving the  technical knowledge of personnel and improving working conditions.He  also noted that the Armenian safety systems at nuclear power plants  were interested in Uzbekistan and Bangladesh, where new nuclear power  units will be built, and American dealerships interested Equipment  for nuclear power plants. According to the professor, the institute  has developed sensors that detect the slightest fluctuations in steam  generators. "We produced 74 of these sensors for the Armenian nuclear  power plant. Thanks to this, in 2018, an accident was recorded on one  of the steam generators where the engine oil was leaked," added  Vahram Petrosyan.

The Armatom Institute was created in 1973 before the commissioning of  the first block of the ANPP (1976). The Institute conducts studies of  the technical condition of nuclear power plants and develops new  devices for its safety. In particular, in 1989 the institute  developed one of the first simulators in the USSR for the personnel  of nuclear power plants, which was installed at the Novovoronezh NPP.  The Institute also developed and implemented the fourth generation  industrial antiseismic protection system (SIAZ).