The rebirth of the Armenian NPP: 25 years ago, the second power unit  of the nuclear power plant was restarted

ArmInfo.On November 5, 1995, the second power unit of the Armenian NPP was restarted after an idle period of six and a half years. The decision to restart the  Armenian nuclear power plant helped Armenia to cope with the economic  crisis of the 90s, when the country, among other serious problems,  experienced an acute shortage of electricity.

"The resumption of the operation of the Armenian NPP is a clear  example of the fact that the NPP is a real guarantor of the energy  independence and security of Armenia. Today the share of the Armenian  NPP in the energy system of the republic is approaching 40%. The  preservation and development of nuclear energy is of strategic  importance for us. In addition, in connection with the current  situation in the region, it is worth noting that ensuring the safety  of the Armenian nuclear power plant, as the only operating nuclear  power plant in the region, is our priority and follows from the  interests of regional security. operation of the station until 2026,  "said Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of  the Republic of Armenia Suren Papikyan.

It is a unique case in the world practice that after a complete  shutdown a nuclear power plant was reconnected to the power system  after such a long downtime. All work on restarting the Armenian NPP  was carried out in the shortest possible time - within 2.5 years.  Already at the inspection stage, it became clear that the first power  unit could not be restored due to corrosion damage. The second was  restored due to the quality of the metal of the inner surface of the  reactor vessel, which has a two-layer protective surfacing made of  corrosion-resistant steel. This ensured the safety of the reactor  vessel during its downtime. In general, a complete inspection of  systems and equipment was carried out at the station, the technical  condition and functionality of all systems were restored, the  equipment was modernized to improve safety characteristics. As a  result, the safety level of the currently operating power unit No. 2  has been significantly increased compared to the state of the ANPP  before its shutdown in 1989 and is as close as possible to  international requirements.

"More than a hundred large and about a thousand small measures have  been developed and implemented, aimed at improving the safety and  reliability of the plant. Armenian nuclear scientists have shown high  professionalism. The work was carried out jointly with Russian  enterprises.

- developers and designers of reactor equipment - design bureau  "Gidropress", NRC "Kurchatov Institute", machine-building plant "ZiO  Podolsk", Kirov machine-building plant. International organizations,  in particular the IAEA, were also involved. We did all this for the  first time in history. And it was, without exaggeration, a colossal  experience and contribution to the development of the entire nuclear  industry at the world level, "says Gera Sevikyan, a direct  participant in the restart of the Armenian NPP, advisor to the plant  director.

The decision to stop the work of the station was made after the  Spitak earthquake. And although the station was not damaged and was  fully operational, the country's leadership was forced to take this  step, because a couple of years before that there was an accident at  the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The world was still experiencing  fear from this event. During the shutdown of the Armenian NPP,  electricity was mainly produced by thermal power plants, which, due  to interruptions in the supply of fuel, could provide only 10- 15% of  the electricity needed for the country. This led to a complete  collapse of the energy system and affected every Armenian family. The  restoration of the second power unit of the plant marked the  beginning of Armenia's withdrawal from the so-called "blackout". The  Armenian nuclear power plant allowed to increase electricity  generation by a quarter.

Now the Armenian NPP is going through a new, extremely important  stage in its history. Work was carried out at the station to extend  its service life until 2026, and specialists are already studying the  possibilities of further extending its service life. This gives hope  that the "dark years" in the history of Armenia will no longer be  repeated.