Monday, October 18 2021 15:05

ArmInfo.On October 17, 2021 following outage-2021 the ANPP Unit 2 was started and connected to the RA unified power grid, the press service of the ANPP reports.   According to the source, employees of almost all the subdivisions of  the Armenian NPP, as well as about 600 specialists from Russia,  Belarus, Ukraine, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia and other  countries participated in the activities.

"One of the most essential processes of Outage-2021 was the annealing  of Unit 2 reactor vessel metal. It was successfully implemented at  the ANPP and will contribute to Unit 2 design life extension and  safety improvement.

During the long-lasting shutdown of the unit, activities on  modernization of the major safety systems, namely, Emergency Core  Cooling System, Spray System, Reliable Power Supply System, In-Core  Process Monitoring System and Computer Information Systems have been  implemented as well.

With participation of the specialists of the "Rusatom Service" JSC  and involved contractors, as well as the plant staff, exclusive and  unprecedentedly large-scope activities in the ANPP history have been  implemented, in particular, installation of about 730m pipelines and  about 270 items of valves, making 420 new joint welds, as well as  non-destructive testing of about 4700 weld seams, laying and  installation of about 42km long cables.  In parallel with the  activities of the final stage of the ANPP Unit 2 design life  extension, outage activities were being performed, specifically,  general overhaul of about 520 items of equipment, as well as  intermediate and routine maintenance of about 330 items of equipment,  etc.

Outage-2021 was the longest for the Armenian NPP Unit 2. Its  implementation was made possible thanks to maximum concentration of  the ANPP personnel efforts, clear arrangement of the work,  coordination of the simultaneous activities with multiple involved  contractor specialists.

The Armenian nuclear power plant continues to operate, remaining  focused on the activities aimed at ensuring reliable and safe  operation,"ANPP reports.

To remind, according to the intergovernmental agreement, Russia  provided Armenia with a state loan of $ 300 million for the  modernization of the second power unit of the ANPP (of which $ 270  million is a loan, $ 30 million is a grant). As of the end of  February 2020, the Armenian side has spent about $ 200 million from  the amount of the state loan. In April 2019, the Armenian side  applied to the Ministry of Finance of Russia with a proposal to  prolong a credit, as well as postpone the start of loan repayment  (from December 31, 2019 to December 31, 2021) amid the delay in work  on the project.  

Without agreeing, Armenia withdrew from the balance of the Russian  loan in June 2020.  Then Minister of Territorial Administration and  Infrastructures of Armenia, and as of today already Deputy Prime  Minister Suren Papikyan noted that at this stage the authorities  considered it more profitable for the country to find funds from  other sources for these purposes. As regards the ANPP modernization  program, Papikyan confirmed that the "Rosatom" state corporation  remains the main partner of Armenia (its subsidiary "Rusatom-Service"  company is the general contractor of the station modernization  program).