KOCHARIAN SAYS ARMENIA EAGER TO REPLACE OLD NUCLEAR POWER PLANT WITH MODERN ONE

ARMENPRESS

YEREVAN, APRIL 27, ARMENPRESS: Armenian president Robert Kocharian
told the students and faculty of the Yerevan State University today
that Armenia ‘should certainly have a nuclear power production
facility.’ He said the government is considering this option and
practical steps are expected to come in 2008-2009.

Kocharian said the best option for the country would be to build a
new modern plant with advanced technologies on the infrastructures of
the Metzamor power plant built in 1970-s, but added that the question
is to calculate its exact cost and the extent of impact a new plant
may have on electricity tariff policies.

Kocharian said specific actions with regard to construction of a new
power plant or a major reconstruction of the current one may come
in 2012-2013.

Armenia’s Soviet-era Metzamor nuclear power plant, similar in design
to Chernobyl’s nuclear power station, is scheduled to close in 2016
in line with Armenia’s commitments before the European Union.

It generates nearly half of the electricity consumed in the
country. The station consists of two VVER-440 reactors and was shut
down shortly after the 1988 earthquake, but this provoked a severe
energy crisis and the government restarted one of the power units in
November 1995 with a 407.5 MWe capacity.

In 2003, the nuclear power station was handed over to Russian Unified
Energy Systems (RAO UES) to manage for a five-year term to help pay
off Armenia’s debts.

Last year Armenian government pushed through the parliament a legal
amendment allowing it to seek for foreign investors who would be
willing to provide an estimated $1 billion needed for construction
of a new power plant.

Also earlier this month the Russian and Armenian governments agreed
to jointly develop Armenia’s uranium reserves. A relevant agreement
was signed in Yerevan by prime minister Serzh Sarkisian and Sergey
Kirienko, the head of Russia’s Federal Agency on Atomic Energy
(Rosatom).

Under the agreement Armenia and Russia will set up a joint venture
to explore areas in the southeastern Syunik region, where uranium
reserves were estimated by Soviet geologists at 30,000 metric tons.