ARMENIA TO START NUCLEAR PLANT BUILD IN EARLY 2011

AzerNews Weekly
May 20 2009
Azerbaijan

Armenia will tackle construction of a new nuclear power plant in
early 2011, Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan has said.

He said that, according to preliminary estimates, building the station
will cost about $5 billion and it will be constructed in the area of
the existing Metsamor facility.

The Armenian government said last week that WorleyParsons, a major
Australian provider of services to the energy and complex process
industries, has won a tender announced for the project, and both
sides hope to sign a relevant agreement soon.

Movsisyan said the next step is completing engineering work for the
power plant and selecting an investor through another tender.

The power station currently in operation supplies over 40 percent of
Armenia`s needs for electricity. The new facility will have a capacity
double that of the Metsamor plant.

Metsamor, a Soviet-era power plant, is slated for demolition in 2017.