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.