Yerevan Adamant In Delaying Metsamor Closure
By Atom Markarian 09/06/2004 01:46

Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep
June 8 2004

The Armenian government remains determined not to close the Metsamor
nuclear power plant in the near future and reaffirmed this position
during talks with senior officials from the European Union last week,
Industry Minister Karen Chshmaritian said on Tuesday.

Chshmaritian headed a delegation of government officials who
represented Yerevan at a regular meeting of an Armenia-EU “cooperation
committee” which took place in Brussels on Friday. The issue of
Metsamor’s future was high on its agenda. “The European side wants
Armenia to set a date [for Metsamor’s closure],” Chshmaritian told a
news conference. “However, Armenia can not set a date without having
financing resources [to replace the facility] and clarifying the
entire procedure for the closure.”

The EU has long been arguing that the plant is located in a seismically
active area and that its Soviet-built nuclear reactor does not meet
modern safety standards. The bloc’s executive European Commission has
offered to grant Armenia 100 million euros ($123 million) in return
for the decommissioning of the plant which generates about 40 percent
of the country’s electricity.

Chshmaritian reiterated Yerevan’s rejection of the offer, saying that
as much as $1 billion is needed for safely shutting down Metsamor
safely and putting in place an alternative source of inexpensive
energy. “The Energy Ministry presented its calculations [to the EU],
according to which the total cost of the work would be worth that
much,” he said. He added the Armenia-EU body decided to set up a
working group that will look into the issue in detail and present
its findings by the end of this year.

The government wants to keep Metsamor operational for at least another
decade despite its past promise to the EU to decommission the plant
in 2004. The European Commission now seems to be stepping up pressure
on Yerevan to do that as soon as possible in line with its policy of
phasing out all Soviet-designed reactors remaining in Eastern Europe.

Still, an EU spokeswoman in Brussels told RFE/RL last week that the
bloc will continue to finance further measures to improve Metsamor’s
operational safety “up to its closure.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress