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.