THE EXPERT SUGGESTS SPURRING OLIGARCHS

Lragir/am
18/03/06

The resource of the Armenian nuclear plant expires in 2016, and in
the upcoming 15-20 years Armenia cannot afford to build a nuclear
plant on its own, said the minister of energy of Armenia Armen
Movsisyan. According to the minister, 400 million dollars is required
to close down the nuclear plant, and one billion is needed to build
a modern nuclear plant, which equals to the state budget of Armenia
in 2006. According to the minister, the resource expires, but it does
not mean that the nuclear plant will be closed down in 2016. He said
that the nuclear plant will operate until the new plant is built.
Armen Movsisyan assures that there is not a precedent of re-operation
of a closed down nuclear plant, which happened with the nuclear plant
of Metsamor, but there were cases when the expiry date of the reactor
was prolonged.

The EU is going to allocate 100 million euros to Armenia; the
stipulation is to close down the nuclear plant of Metsamor. Armenia
still disagrees: “100 million will not solve the problem.”

Experts consider the construction of a new nuclear plant an important
component of independence and security in energy. Edward Aghadjanov,
the director of the Center of Independent Experts, suggests building
a new nuclear plant on the resources of Armenia. “By different
evaluations the capital of the oligarchs of Armenia exceeds the
state budget of Armenia several times. The oligarchs should build a
nuclear plant instead of a sauna or a casino,” says Edward Aghadjanov.
The expert thinks that the construction of a new nuclear plant should
be a national program based on the cooperation of the private sector
and the government. The capacity of the nuclear plant should not be
less than 1000 megawatts and it should have a regional importance.
The important thing to do is to persuade the Armenian oligarchs.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress