ADOLF BIRKHOFER: SECURITY LEVEL OF ARMENIAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IS QUITE HIGH

Noyan Tapan

Dec 2, 2008

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The work done by the Atomic Energy
Security Council (AESC) under the RA president in the sphere of
security of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP) enables to keep
Armenia’s energy security at a properly high level, the Armenian
president Serzh Sargsyan stated at the opening ceremony of the 10th
sitting of AESC.

In his words, the proposals and advice of the Council are subjected
to detailed analysis, and many of them were carried out later. In
particular, at the Council’s suggestion to raise the status of
Stateatomcontrol – the regulatory body of Armenia’s nuclear security,
this body was reorganized into the State Committee for the Regulation
of Nuclear Security adjunct to the Armenian government.

The Chairman of AESC, a leading expert in atomic energy Adolf Birkhofer
(Germany) told reporters that the security level of Armenia’s atomic
energy is currently much higher than at the time when AESC started
its activities.

In his opinion, the security level of ANPP is fully
comparable with that of the nuclear plants of this type in other
countries. A. Birkhofer said that the currently operating 2nd power
unit of ANPP should continue working for 7-8 years, while measures
to increase its security should be taken for another 3-4 years.

The Director General of ANPP CJSC Gagik Markosian said that the
results of the 2007-2008 measures to raise the security of ANPP
will be discussed at the 10th sitting of AESC. These measures were
implemented with allocations of a total of more than 10 million USD
provided by the EU, the U.S, Great Britain and the Czech Republic.

He announced that during the consultation held at the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) a week ago with the participation of local,
Armenian and Russian experts, the directions of increasing ANPP’s
security were chosen, on which 240 million rubles (about 10 million
USD) allocated by Russian government for this purpose this year will
be spent. All the proposals of the Armenian side on implementation
of a 3-year program including 12 projects were taken into account
at the consultation, and the Armenian side is now waiting for the
program’s approval by IAEA.

The director general of ANPP CJSC informed those present that last week
the company announced a tender for seismic studies of the building site
of ANPP’s new power unit. He said that he is in favor of operating
the current power unit after the end of its planned operation period
of 30 years – in 2016 if no new power unit is built by that time.

According to him, there has been a precedent of operating 4 power units
with this type of reactor for 45 years in Russia, there have also been
precedents in Europe and the U.S, and the respective experience may
be used for raising the security of the operating power unit of ANPP.

The AESC is composed of Russian experts in atomic energy security (3),
Armenian experts (2), French (2), U.S. (1), Czech (1) and Austrian (1).