IAEA chief visits Armenian nuclear power plant Metsamor
The Messenger, Georgia
Aug 3 2005
Sees many improvements to Armenian reactor but says more must be done
to meet international safety standards
By M. Alkhazashvili
The Metsamor Nuclear Electric Plant of Armenia, located 28 km outside
of Yerevan, not only supplies at least 40 percent of Armenia with
power, it provides Georgia with electrical energy during the winter
months as well.
That the plant is a potential source of major ecological danger for
the region is also significant for Georgia. This facility was built
during the Soviet period, in 1976, and is therefore not dissimilar to
the infamous Chernobyl plant in Ukraine which first became
operational in 1977. Metsamor was scheduled to be shut down in 2004
but the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) prolonged the
functioning period until 2008.
Following his July 27-28 visit to the Metsamor nuclear power plant,
Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA’s Director General, said he noted many
improvements in operating Unit 2, but further steps must be taken to
meet international safety standards, the IAEA reports on their
website.
Metsamor has had a troubled history. After the December 7, 1988
earthquake in Armenia which followed close on the heels the April 26,
1986 Chernobyl catastrophe, Metsamor suspended operations at the
behest of the Armenian people. But in the early 1990s Armenia,
suffering from its own energy crisis, brought the nuclear station
back to life with Russian aid, and at the moment the Metsamor is
managed by the Russian electricity giant RAO UES.
It was announced in July that, due to essentially needed renovations
along with a lack of actual existing nuclear fuel, Metsamor had to
once more be stopped. According to information released by the
director of AES, Gagik Markosiani, the exact date that plant
operations will again be suspended is yet to be determined. Both the
main nuclear turbine and the fourth turbine should need at least 45
days of renovation, while the third turbine will take ten days to be
thoroughly overhauled. Markosiani also said that a new transfer of
additional nuclear fuel to the Nuclear Electric Plant will have taken
place by September 15.
The former Georgian Minister of Environmental Protection Nino
Chkhobadze believes that the Georgian government is obliged to demand
safety guaranties in order to prevent the possibility of any leaks or
incidents that could be caused by the planned plant renovations and
transportation of nuclear fuel.
According to the Georgian Green Party if any serious problem were to
occur at the Metsamor plant, Tbilisi should be totally evacuated
within eight hours. But where to? At the moment there is no such
contingency plan and therefore no answer to this question. Most
likely, in the case of a nuclear incident, the entire South Caucasus
as well as neighboring parts of Turkey and Iran would be affected.
The Georgian Greens have periodically expressed their concerns about
the transport of nuclear fuel from Russia to Armenia. During the
Soviet period, nuclear fuel and waste were carried back and forth
between Russia and Armenia by land. In the current post-Soviet period
these transactions can only be carried out by crossing sovereign
Georgian territory and they have never been done officially.
“Georgia was, and is, a transit country. It’s interesting how they
manage to move such materials through Georgia. It requires a series
of licenses, permits and guarantees of security systems, doesn’t it?
How did Armenia manage to get their nuclear materials from Russia
without crossing the territory of Georgia?” asks the head of the
Greens, Giorgi Gachechiladze.
A recent IWPR report (CRS No. 271, 26-Jan-05) explains that the fuel
is transported in Russian planes through Georgian airspace to
Armenia. That “is the same as flying around a potential nuclear bomb”
said Alexis Louber, head of the EU delegation in Armenia, who has
been quoted as saying the plant poses “danger to the entire region”.
The Armenian Assistant Minister of Energy, Areg Galstiani, declared
in Yerevan on July 19 that the Metsamor Plant will be closed by 2016
if, by this time, the republic can be guaranteed an alternative
energy generating source. Interestingly, this alternative source
seems to be a new nuclear electric plant.
Galstiani stated that from 2011 to 2016 activities will be carried
out in Armenia to construct a new nuclear electric plant that will,
presumably, be located on the territory of the current plant.