YEREVAN PLANS NPP NEAR TURKISH BORDER
New Europe, Belgium
14 September 2007 – Issue : 747
A new nuclear power plant being built in Armenia on the site of an
existing facility will cost around two billion Euro, Armenian Energy
Minister Armen Movsisyan told Interfax on September 7.
"The project’s feasibility study is being carried out by Armenia,
Russia, the US and the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA]. The
old nuclear power plant is to be rebuilt within four-and-a-half
years," Movsisyan said in the Parliament. He said the construction
of the new plant, located in the town of Metsamor, near the Turkish
border, would require a complex refit, including the installation of
seismic safeguards.
The Metsamor nuclear reactor, which is composed of two WWER-440-230
units, each with power levels of 408 megawatts, is located not
far from the capital of Yerevan, 16 kilometres from the Turkish
border. The Armenian government decided to open the second unit in
the reactor in 1993, due to high energy needs, and thus the second
unit was started up in 1995. The Metsamor reactor provides up to 40
percent of Armenia’s electricity needs and is predicted to continue
doing so until 2016. Since Yerevan decided upgrade the reactor the
Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK) has been involved in following
related developments and taking the necessary precautions from the
Turkish side.
Movsisyan also stressed that Armenia must have a permanent source of
nuclear power and that the new Armenian nuclear power plant must be
operational until alternative sources are found. He said that "many
foreign countries now understand that Armenia must have a nuclear
power plant." "Only a new Armenian (nuclear power plant) can become
an alternative to the one now in use," he said.