Arminfo, Armenia
Aug 30 2018


Minister: Every extra day of idling of Armenian NPP brings additional
damage to Armenia in 200 million drams

Yerevan August 29

Alexander Avanesov. The Armenian nuclear power plant plays an
extremely important role for the energy complex of Armenia. On August
29, RA Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources Arthur
Grigoryan stated at a press conference in Yerevan, summing up the
results of 100 days in office.

The minister recalled that the station is currently carrying out
activities to extend the life of the second power unit for 10 years.
From June 1, the ANPP block was stopped and after the repair work was
put into operation on August 1. Arthur Grigoryan particularly noted
that the timely commissioning of the unit is very important, as every
extra day of idle time brings additional damage to Armenia of 200
million drams.

And, as the minister noted, a simple station, the lowest tariff in the
country, fell on an unprecedented increase in electricity consumption
in the country, the demand for which in the summer months was 1030 MW.
"Such volumes are typical for the winter season, especially for the
New Year holidays," Arthur Grigoryan said, adding that high demand was
due to the established hot weather, and it was important to provide
consumers with uninterrupted power supply. "In the end, we managed to
cope with the task," the minister said.

Since June 1, the reactor of the second power unit of the station,
which was commissioned since August 1 of this year, has been stopped
as part of the preventative maintenance program. in parallel with the
fourth turbo unit, which was stopped for modernization on April 14. On
August 1 this year. The third unit was halted, the modernization of
which will last until December 1, 2018. Earlier, in an interview with
ArmInfo, the deputy director general of the ANPP, the director of the
program for extending the life of the second power unit of the
station, Gera Sevikyan, informed that with the stop of the turbine the
active phase of the second stage of the program for prolonging the
life of the ANPP begins, during which a huge amount of work is planned
surveys of the main equipment. The Armenian nuclear power plant
consists of two units with Soviet (Russian) WWER reactors. The first
unit was commissioned in 1976, the second - in 1980. In March 1989,
after the Spitak earthquake, which killed 25 thousand people, the
station's work was stopped. In November 1995, in connection with the
most acute energy crisis, the second power unit of the station with a
capacity of 407.5 MW was involved. In March 2014, the Armenian
government decided to extend the life of the second power unit by 10
years - until 2026. Completion of work is planned for 2019. The
Government of the Russian Federation allocated a $ 270 million state
export loan to Armenia and a $ 30 million grant for these purposes.