EU halts E100m aid to Armenia in nuclear row

Irish Times
May 29, 2004

Alarmed at the potential for another Chernobyl-type nuclear accident,
the European Union has frozen E100 million of grant aid to this small
state in the Caucasus following the refusal of the government here
to agree to a date for c losure of an ageing Russian-built nuclear
power plant sited in one of the world’s most active seismic zones.

The pressurised water reactor at Metsamor, about 40 kilometres west
of the Armenian capital, Yerevan, was first commissioned in the mid
70s but shut down in 1988 after an earthquake killed 25,000 in cities
and towns in the area. The reactor was restarted in 1995 due to severe
energy shortages in the country.

‘Our position of principle is that nuclear power plants should not
be built in highly active seismic zones,’ said Mr Alexis Louber,
head of the EU’s delegation in Armenia. ‘This plant is a danger to
the whole Caucasus region.’

As part of a general policy seeking the closure of ageing nuclear
plants in territories of the former Soviet Union, the EU had offered
the E100 million in aid to Armenia for finding alternative energy
sources and helping with decommissioning costs at the plant. The EU
decision to freeze the aid, made some weeks ago but only just revealed
here, is seen as a mark of Brussels’ frustration on the issue.

‘We cannot force Armenia to close Metsamor,’ said Mr
Louber. ‘Originally it was agreed the plant should cease operations
this year – now we’re asking for a definite date as to when the plant
will be closed. We feel that should be well in advance of the end of
the plant’s design life cycle in 2016.’

The plant, in a gently rolling plain in view of the snowy peak of Mt
Ararat in nearby Turkey, has no secondary containment facilities to
prevent radioactive leakage in the event of a nuclear accident – a
safety requirement now considered essential in all reactors. Another
worry is that, due to border and railway closures with surrounding
territories, nuclear material to feed the plant has to be flown into
Yerevan’s civilian airport from Russia and then transported along a
badly surfaced public highway to the plant.

‘It is the same as flying around a potential nuclear bomb,’ said
Mr Louber. ‘It’s an extremely hazardous exercise.’

Mr Areg Galystyan, Armenia’s deputy minister of power, dismissed
suggestions that Metsamor is unsafe, saying dollars 50 million had
been spent on upgrading safety features at the plant.

‘It was a big mistake to shut the plant down in 1988,’ he said. ‘It
created an energy crisis and the people and economy suffered. It would
be impossible for us to cause the same problem again by shutting off
the plant.’

He also insisted that all necessary safety measures were taken when
flying in fuel to feed the reactor, though exact details of the
operation were kept secret ‘to avoid alarming people’.

Dr Alvaro Antonyan, president of Armenia’s National Survey for
Seismic Protection, said Russian scientists built the power station
on a special raft in order to withstand earthquakes. Dr Antonyan
said the 1988 earthquake, which measured 6.7 on the Richter scale,
had not damaged the reactor.

‘I fear for my two children because I do not think the plant is
safe,’ said Mr Gohar Bezprozvannkh, who worked at the plant for two
years. ‘Earthquakes happen here and there is danger. On the other
hand we do not have any other options for work.’