Minister: work on re-extension of operating life of Armenian NPP will  begin in September this year

ArmInfo.Armenia is entering the second stage of work to extend the operating life of the current  second power unit of the Metsamor NPP for another 10 years. Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of the Republic of Armenia Gnel Sanosyan stated this on April 20 at an extraordinary  session of the RA National Assembly.

He noted that it is planned to extend the life of the unit until  2036. Work in this direction will begin in September this year, and  the process of upgrading the station itself will take two years,  after which it is planned to obtain permission from the regulator,  represented by the Committee for Nuclear Safety Regulation, to  operate the ANPP for a period of 10 years.

The minister noted that at the same time, work is underway on a  project for the construction of a new nuclear power unit, and a  difficult decision needs to be made on this issue, ranging from  financial to political and energetic ones. <There are numerous  components. The problem is that the new units are being built taking  into account their operation for 60 years and the possibility of  prolonging this period for another 40 years. That is, the new units  are designed for 100 years, and we must make the right decision so  that the new unit with its capacities fits into the country's overall  energy system>, Sanosyan said. He recalled that at present the  capacity of the country's energy complex is 1,200 megawatts. The  units that are currently in operation have similar capacities from  1,000 to 1,400 megawatts. And if a decision is made to build a unit  with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts or more, it will turn out that all  100% of the country's electricity production will fall on this unit,  which, according to the minister, is unacceptable, since the entire  energy complex will depend on one unit. "For this reason, an accurate  calculation is needed to assess the level of electricity consumption  in the country by 2070 and the growth rate of the country's economy,"  the minister stressed, adding that the government's vision on this  issue will be determined by the end of this year. At the same time,  it is important to hurry up with the decision, since the construction  period of a new unit is 8-10 years, which means that in 2025-2026 it  will be necessary to start building a new nuclear power unit in order  to be in time by 2036.