Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire
October 11, 2007 Thursday 5:33 PM MSK

Armenian NPP shut off a day earlier than scheduled

Armenia’s Armyanskaya nuclear power plant was shut off for planned
repairs on Wednesday evening, a day earlier than scheduled, due to
technical problems, the plant’s management and the Armenian
Environmental Protection Ministry’s nuclear energy watchdog,
Gosatomnadzor, said in a joint statement.

"On October 10 at 10:32 p.m., a short circuit occurred in a 220-
kilovolt power supply line connecting the Armyanskaya NPP to the
country’s electricity system," the statement said.

"The safety system of the plant’s second power generating unit turned
on automatically. No faults or deviations from nuclear or radiation
security were registered," the document said.

The planned shutdown for repairs and refueling was initially due on
October 12.

Annual prophylactic repairs will be carried out, about 100 fuel
cassettes will be charged with fresh fuel and compulsory measures to
enhance the plant’s safety will be taken, while the plant remains
closed for 45 days.

The Armyanskaya NPP has two Russian-made VVER-440 power generating
units with a total capacity of 815 megawatts. The first unit was
brought into operation in 1976 and the second in 1980. The plant was
frozen for political reasons in early 1989 and restarted in 1995. It
accounts for nearly a half of Armenia’s domestic energy consumption.

In 2003, INTER-RAO UES, Russia’s major electricity import and export
operator, was entrusted with running the plant for 5 years.