ARMENIAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT CLOSED FOR REPAIRS
By M. Alkhazashvili
The Messenger, Georgia
Oct 3 2007
The Armenian Metsamor nuclear power plant was recently shut down for
essential repairs, the news agency Regnum reports. The repairs are
scheduled to last six weeks.
The plant, 40 kilometers from Yerevan, provides around 40 percent
of Armenia’s electricity requirements and was last closed in 1989
following a major earthquake, before reopening in 1996.
The EU is pressing for its permanent closure, citing "outdated
technologies, not meeting today’s security requirements." The Armenian
government says it needs to find alternative sources of energy before
they can shut down the nuclear plant.
Since 2003, the plant has been under the management of United Energy
System of Russia.