The Messenger, Georgia
Feb. 23, 2008
Russian company to bid in Armenia nuclear power station tender
By M. Alkhazashvili
(Translated by Diana Dundua)
Friday, February 22
Russia will participate in an upcoming tender for the construction of
a new nuclear power station in Armenia, Sergey Kiriyenko, director
general of Russia?s nuclear regulator Rosatom, announced earlier this
month.
Last year the Armenian government announced a tender would be held to
build a new 1000 megawatt reactor to replace the Metsamor nuclear
plant which currently supplies the country with around 40 percent of
its electricity supply.
Armenia is under pressure from the EU to shut down Metsamor due to
safety concerns over its lack of a containment system to deal with
potential radioactive leaks.
While the EU has offered EUR 100 million to assist in Metsamor?s
closure, Armenian officials say that far more than this, around USD
300 million, is needed for its. The government also says that around
USD 1 billion will be needed to construct a new reactor.
Metsamor has been operated by Russian company Unified Energy Systems
since 2003, as part of a five-year arrangement to help Armenia pay
off its USD 40 million debt to Russia for providing uranium.