ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia Monday Hrant Bagratyan: there is an extreme need of nuclear power to provide basic energy of Armenia Yerevan June 12 Alexander Avanesov. There is an extreme need of nuclear power to provide basic energy of Armenia. The former Prime Minister of the state, initiator of NPP 2nd bloc relaunch in 1995 Hrant Bagratyan stated in a discussion with ArmInfo correspondent. According to him, despite the development of alternative and renewable energy sources, the republic has no option other than nuclear energy. "We need stable power like Hrazdan HPP and Armenian NPP. However considering the expensive energy generated by Hrazdan ThPP, the effect of nuclear power with approximately 7 times cheaper then the energy of ThPP is more than obvious", he said. According to Hrant Bagratyan, it is possible to build a solar power plant of 200 MW, which, however, will depend on the seasonality factor. To ensure the same stability of the power system and increase its independence, basic capacities are needed, which includes Armenian Nuclear Power Plant, which sells electricity to networks at one of the lowest prices. At one time, the ex-premier continued, precisely because of the importance of nuclear power for the national economic complex, it was decided to restart the power unit of the N2 nuclear power plant. "In February 1993, I decided to restart N2 power unit of the Armenian nuclear power plant, then the decision was made on the basis of reports prepared by Bechtel and Framatome, followed by negotiations with Russia to raise a $ 100 million loan to restart the unit," ex Prime Minister said. In the context of providing stability and security of energy complex of the country he stressed the importance of implementing the program at the station on prolongation of the exploitation term of N2 energy unit, implemented by Rusatom Service JSC, which is a part of Rosatom SC. At the same time, ex Prime Minister called the authorities of the country to decide upon the construction project of new nuclear energy unit, which, according to Hrant Bagratyan, should replace the old one. At the same time, he continued, it is necessary to create new energy infrastructures. To note, TsNIITMASH, an industrial enterprise of the Rosatom. As for the instrumental survey, the main task of this exercise is to calculate and confirm the residual life of the equipment using non-destructive testing methods. In simple words, it is necessary to check the possibility of further operation of NPP equipment. As you know, there is a lot of equipment on the NPPA, so the instrumental survey is distributed for several years, without compromising the safety and operation of the NPPA. Last year, we started this process; this year the volume of the surveyed equipment increased by 50% compared to last year (150 types of equipment) at the request of the supervisory authority. We hope to finish the instrumental survey process next year and in 2019. Transfer calculations and conclusions to the supervisory authority - the State Committee for Nuclear Safety Regulation. We hope to finish on time, but everything will depend on the results of the survey and the decision of the Gosatomnadzor. On 30 Sept 2015, Tashir Group headed by Russian businessman of Armenian origin Samvel Karapetyan and Inter RAO signed an agreement of purchase and sale of electric power assets of the Russian energy holding in Armenia - ENA CJSC and Hrazdan TPP. The reason of the sale was the public discontent about the ungrounded growth in electricity prices by approximately 16.7% (6.93 AMD per 1 kWh). The Public Services Regulatory Commission's (PSRC) decision to raise the tariff sparked protests and the Armenian authorities agreed to audit both the expediency of PSRC's decision to raise the tariff and the activities of the Electric Networks. In addition, the authorities and Tashir Group took a decision to subsidize on a parity basis the raised tariff for the households and SMEs until the audit is completed. Since August 1, 2015, the daytime tariff for households (from 7 am till 11 pm) has been 48.78 AMD per 1kWh, while the nighttime tariff has been 38.78 AMD per 1 kWh.