ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
September 24, 2005 Saturday 5:57 PM Eastern Time

RAO UES to give up management of Armenia nuclear power plant

By Tigran Liloyan

YEREVAN

Russia’s RAO UES electric monopoly announced its intention to give up
the financial management of the Armenian nuclear power plant, saying
it has fulfilled its task.

The Russian company informed the Armenian government that it had
completed the plant’s anti-crisis program and financial
normalization, Armenian Energy Minster Armen Movsesyan told Itar-Tass
on Saturday.

Earlier, a RAO official stated that after two years’ management of
the plant’s financial flows, it accumulated a sufficient floating
capital and paid its debts for the nuclear fuels and large bank
loans.

Movsesyan said in the event the plant is shut down, the real source
of the alternative energy would be either the construction of a new
facility, or the production of gas-generated electricity.

The option to build a new nuclear power plant seems to be most
advantageous, but the project requires 800 million dollars which
Armenia presently lacks.

Nevertheless, Movsesyan is confident that his country will have no
problems with the international public opinion regarding the
construction of a new nuclear facility.

The European Union has been urging Yerevan to close its only nuclear
power plant, but it stated that its shutdown is only possible if
alternative sources of energy are found.

The Armenian nuclear power plant, commissioned in 1979, was shut down
in 1989 after a devastating earthquake.

In 1996, Russia helped Armenian demothball the plant and restart its
second reactor. The plant accounts for 40 percent of all electricity
produced in Armenia.