Government of Armenia approves Program for extending operational life  of Unit 2 at Metsamor NPP

ArmInfo.On September 14, the Government of Armenia approved the Program for extending the   operational life of Unit 2 at Armenian Nuclear Power Plant CJSC and the Plan for organizing and implementing the activities provided for in the plan.  

According to the justification, in accordance with the  relevant protocol decision dated March 27, 2014, a program was  implemented to extend the design service life of the power unit, as a  result of which the operating life of the power unit was extended  until 2026 in the prescribed manner.

As part of the project, large-scale modernization and re-equipment  work was carried out at the nuclear power plant (about 189 million US  dollars through loan and grant funds received from the Russian  Federation, as well as about 63.2 billion drams allocated by the RA  state budget).

<Considering the modernization work already carried out, as well as  the opinions of specialized organizations and international  experience in extending the operational life of similar power units,  it is planned that through additional investments/work it will be  possible to extend the design service life of the power unit by  another 10 years - from 2026 to 2036>, - the document says. It is  reported that the work is planned to be carried out using loan funds  provided by ANPP CJSC (the amount is not specified), which in turn  may lead to an increase or decrease in expenses and revenues of the  RA state budget.

In August of this year ArmInfo reported that according to preliminary  data, about $150 million will be required to carry out work to  re-extend the operating life of the Armenian NPP. As Advisor to the  General Director of Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP) CJSC Gera  Sevikyan told an ArmInfo correspondent, it is planned that about  $45-50 million of this  amount will come from the Russian loan, and  the rest will be attracted from the state budget. The adviser to the  general director  also noted that the plant is awaiting the decision  of the RA  government to carry out the work, in accordance with which  the  sources of financing will be finally determined. "It is very   important for us that the conditions for attracting credit resources   are acceptable, what will the Russian partners have to do, and what   will we do," Sevikyan said, adding at the same time that the first   phase of the project has almost already begun. So far, the plant is   carrying out a comprehensive inspection of the main equipment and   assemblies on its own within the framework of scheduled preventive   maintenance, however, there is no talk yet about concluding   agreements with suppliers of equipment and services.