Armenia needs tested and approved nuclear power unit

ArmInfo. Today is the deadline for the 2-month term for the expert opinion by the interagency group for construction of a new nuclear power unit formed under a decision  by Armenia's Premier Nikol Pashinyan. 

Talking to ArmInfo Advisor to the Director General of the Armenian  Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP) Gera Sevikyan said that Armenia needs an  already tested nuclear power unit, which has already confirmed its  effectiveness with its work. "We have no right to experiment. There  are very tempting proposals on the issue of building a new nuclear  power unit, but we will not take risks," said the adviser to the  general director. He added that if we are talking about a block of  Russian design, then we can talk about a block with a capacity of  1000 and 1200 megawatts. At the same time, large operating time is  observed in units with 1 thousand MW. "These are proven units that  are constantly being upgraded to improve their safety," Sevikyan  stressed.

At the same time, he urged not to make hasty decisions about the  preferences of the Armenian side in favor of this or that reactor.  Moreover, there are good offers from the Chinese, Koreans and  Americans.

True, the proposals of the American side look beautiful only on  paper, since the implementation of the American project may cause big  problems associated with the transportation of large-modular  equipment for the AP-1000 project, which are very bulky and heavy.  The smallest equipment weighs 800 tons, which is simply impossible to  bring to Armenia due to the lack of such roads, tunnels and bridges.  "Besides, when you build something, there are a million side  problems. In particular, large American modules do not fit together  well, you have to work them out on the spot. The same can be said  about the good-looking Korean version of the SPR-1000 reactor, which  has not yet been built anywhere. For this reason, the possibility of  building a modernized version of the Korean block KSTAR, which is  better than its previous counterpart, is being studied.

Sevikyan noted that talks about the possibility of building power  units with a capacity of 300-400 megawatts and small modular reactors  in the republic remain just talks. "These are just developments, but  in practice there are simply no such units, they are either in the  project, or under construction, or have worked for a short period of  time," the specialist noted, pointing out the importance of nuclear  energy for the further development of the country's economy,  especially given the depletion of resources hydropower.   Decarbonization is underway around the world, and thermal power  plants running on gas or coal will have to give way to nuclear power  plants and renewable energy sources.

Sevikyan noted that by 2036, when the new unit should start  operating, the second power unit will be decommissioned.

Armenian NPP, Hrazdan and Yerevan TPPs with a total installed  capacity of 1,000 MW. Considering that the current bloc located at an  altitude of over 600 meters above sea level, power of the new unit  will be 10% less than 1 thousand MW.

In turn, the UN national energy expert Ara Marjanyan, in an interview  with corr. ArmInfo stressed that the expert community of Armenia is  inclined to the need to abandon experiments in nuclear energy,  calling for the use of well-proven solutions. "Today, the world  already uses reactors with a century of operation (60 years with the  possibility of extension for another 40 years). It seems to me that  Armenia should decide in favor of just such reactors," the expert  said. 

Earlier, the Minister of Territorial Administration and  Infrastructures of the Republic of Armenia Gnel Sanosyan said that  the government would make a decision on the new block by the end of  this year. At the same time, indicators such as long-term economic  growth rates, population growth, possible volumes of electricity  exports and other factors will be taken into account.

The issue of building a new nuclear power unit in Armenia is fixed in  the Strategy for the development of the country's nuclear energy  until 2040. The issue currently being discussed concerns the capacity  of the new power unit. Of all the possible options, only the Russian  side presented its proposal. On June 8 this year in Sochi, as part of  a meeting of the CIS Intergovernmental Council, the Prime Ministers  of Russia and Armenia Mikhail Mishustin and Nikol Pashinyan visited  the exhibition "Eurasia is our home", at which Pashinyan was told  about the youngest and most efficient station in the world at the  stand of the Rosatom State Corporation - a joint Russian-Belarusian  NPP project. Mishustin drew Pashinyan's attention to the system of  financing the project, pointing out that its cost "was mastered by a  little more than 40% by Belarusian companies." The Russian prime  minister suggested that Alexei Likhachev, the head of the Rosatom  State Corporation, participating in the discussions, invite his  Armenian colleagues and "talk, among other things, about the price of  productivity."

At the end of May this year. Maria Longhi, coordinator of US  government assistance programs for Europe and Eurasia, reported that  the United States is considering the option of building small modular  nuclear reactors in Armenia and other Eurasian states, seeking to  strengthen their energy independence. According to her, in a number  of countries, including Armenia, "the United States is evaluating the  possibility of creating small modular nuclear reactors built using  American technology and capable of leading to greater energy  independence from both Russia and China.