SECOND STOREHOUSE FOR SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL TO BE BUILD AT ANPS
YEREVAN, MAY 18, NOYAN TAPAN. At the May 17 special session, RA
National Assembly discussed in the first reading the draft law on
construction of a spent nuclear fuel storehouse at the Armenian
Nuclear Power Station (ANPS) cjsc. The draft law was submitted by
the government and proposes building a storehouse for spent nuclear
fuel to be kept there for a period of 50 years in dry conditions. The
storehouse capacity was determined, taking into account that ANPS
will operate until late 2016 and about 90 heat-eliminating cassettes
will be changed annually. It is going to be the second storehouse
and about 10 mln euros is needed for its construction. According to
RA Minister of Energy Armen Movsisian, previously the spent nuclear
fuel was transported to Russia but closed roads and the high cost
of transportation created a necessity to build a local storehouse,
so “there is no political implication in this.” To recap, the first
storehouse was put into operation in 2000 and is designed for storing
616 cassettes of spent nuclear fuel by the dry method. The French
government allocated about 6 mln USD for its construction.