ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT PROMISES TO CLOSE SOVIET-ERA NUCLEAR PLANT

The Canadian Press
Nov 30 2007

YEREVAN, Armenia – Armenia approved a plan Thursday to shut down its
lone nuclear power plant, following years of pressure from foreign
countries concerned about its Soviet-era design and safety.

The government gave no date for closing the Medzamor reactor, located
about 32 kilometres west of the capital, Yerevan. The 27-year-old
plant, which supplies nearly half the country’s electricity, halted
operations after a 1988 earthquake but was restarted during an energy
shortage in 1995.

Since then, Armenia has been under constant pressure to close the
plant ahead of its 2016 operational end-life due to safety concerns
and possible design flaws. The European Union has pledged loans and
other assistance estimated to about cover the cost of closing it.

The shutdown could cost up to $280 million, Energy Minister Armen
Movsisian said.

Armenian officials have long refused to shut it without another source
of electricity.

Last week, the United States said it would fund a preliminary
feasibility study on building a new nuclear plant.

President Robert Kocharian has said that building a new, 1,000-megawatt
plant – double that of Medzamor – would cost more than $3 billion.

In 2004, Russia’s state-run electricity grid operator, RAO Unified
Energy Systems, assumed financial control of Medzamor in a deal struck
to relieve Armenia’s massive debts to Russian energy suppliers. UES
and Armenia now share management of the plant.