ANPP management discuss with Czech partners issues related to storage  technologies for spent nuclear fuel

ArmInfo.Within December 13-17, 2021 upon the invitation of <Skoda JS> company Eduard Martirosyan, <HAEK> CJSC General Director, and Movses Vardanyan, As the official website of the ANPP reports, First Deputy General Director- ANPP Director  visited the Czech Republic.

The working visit was aimed at studying  in situ the reactor facility components and the sites for production  of spent nuclear fuel storage casks, as well as the fuel compact  storage racks. Under the EU Support Program the Armenian NPP has been  actively cooperating with the <Skoda JS> company since 2004. The  project related to the spent fuel storage facilities is definitely a  crucial one among the other top important projects that have been  implemented so far.

The Armenian NPP management following the scheduled visit agenda  attended also the Dukovany NPP. In the controlled area of the Czech  NPP they had an opportunity to examine in situ the spent nuclear fuel  dry storage casks produced by <Skoda JS> company, and at Unit 2 that  was under scheduled annual outage they got acquainted with the  equipment, systems and the activities being implemented.

The management of the <HAEK> CJSC also had working meetings with the  senior staff of Bria s.r.o. and TacticWare s.r.o.  Czech companies,  they attended the test site and participated in the tests implemented  under the perimeter security project.

In the course of the working meetings a number of issues of mutual  importance have been discussed that will not only contribute to the  enhancement of the Armenian-Czech cooperation, but also to its  further development.  It should be noted that after the  implementation of the modernization program of the Armenian NPP, the  second power unit of station was put into operation on October 17  this year and connected to the unified energy system of the country.  This was the longest and most important preventive maintenance (PM).  The PPR was carried out with the aim of extending the life of the  station until 2026, as well as the possible prospects for its  operation until 2036.

The Armenian NPP consists of two units with Soviet (Russian) VVER  reactors. The first unit was put into operation in 1976, the second -  in 1980. In March 1989, after the Spitak earthquake, which killed 25  thousand people, the work of the station was stopped. In November  1995, in connection with an acute energy crisis, the second power  unit of the station with a capacity of 407.5 MW was put into  operation. In March 2014, the Armenian government made a decision to  extend the life of the second power unit by 10 years - until 2026.  The government of the Russian Federation allocated a state export  credit to Armenia for this purpose.