RUSSIA TO PROVIDE 10 MILLION USD FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF SECURITY WORKS OF THE SECOND ENERGY BLOCK OF ARMENIAN AES

BSANNA NEWS
ARMENPRESS
2008-10-16
Ukraine

YEREVAN, Oct 16. (ARMENPRESS). Russia will provide 10 million USD for
implementing security works of the second energy block of Armenian
Atomic Electro Station (AES).

Head of the AES Gagik Markosian told Armenpress that the support
will be provided to Armenia through the MAGATE. This is the first
time Russia provides financial support of such amount.

The planned works within the financing will start in 2009 the sizes and
the direction of which is still to be approved: at present technical
discussions are being carried out.

For increasing the security level of Armenian AES with the support
of MAGATE, which coordinates international support distribution,
studies are also planned to be carried out to find out the primary
issues of the AES.

Starting from 1996, overall, 90 million USD was provided to Armenia
by donor-countries to ensure the security of the second energy-block
of Armenian AES.

The Armenian AES is located in the town of Metsamor, was exploited from
1976, at present only the second block of the station functions. The
financial streams of the AES passed under the management of
вÐ~BÑ~ZINTER RAO ECвÐ~BÑ~ company in September 2003, the owner of
which is the вÐ~BÑ~ZRosatomв&#x D0;~BÑ~ corporation.

G. Markosian also informed that with the support and financing of
United States Agency of International Development (USAID) a physical
basis has been prepared connected with the construction of a new AES
in Armenia which will be presented to the Armenian government in the
nearest future.

The new AES will probably be located in the area of the existing
one: additional research works will be conducted before starting
the project.

According to G. Markosian, the approximate sum of necessary money
is also included in the program which will be presented to the
government. The type of the AES is not decided in that works
particularly. According to the initial information, it must be a
station of nearly 1000 megawatt. But the more exact information will
be known when the company which will win the tender and start the
construction will be known.

The functioning AES will gradually be brought out of exploitation
by 2016. Its importance is also dictated by Armenia’s Action Program
within the frameworks of EU New Neighborhood policy.

–Boundary_(ID_174aWwMl+5D1G1DZK9mPVA)–