Armenia, IAEA satisfied with level of cooperation

YEREVAN, January 29. /ARKA/. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and General Director of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohammed Al Baradei discussed bilateral cooperation in Davos Thursday, the Press Service of Armenian President reported.

The sides made appraisal of the current level of bilateral cooperation in atomic energy field. They also discussed issues on construction of a new nuclear power unit in Armenia, says the report.

IAEA Director General appreciated the steps taken by the Armenian Government in connection with new NPP construction and expressed readiness to provide expert support in various stages of the project implementation.

Al Baradei expressed satisfaction with the government measures to improve safety of the existing NPP.

Armenian President, in his turn, expressed gratitude to Al Baradei for coordination of efforts of international donors and advisory assistance provided.

Armenia is planning to build a new NPP unit with capacity of approximately 1,000 megawatt costing $4bln. In 2006 Armenian Parliament revoked the state monopoly for owning new nuclear power units in order to attract foreign capital for the project.

The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) was commissioned in 1976 (the second unit - in 1980).Currently only the second unit of the plant with output of 407.5 megawatt is operated.

In September 2003, the financial flows of Armenian NPP were placed in trust management of INTER RAO EES Closed Joint Stock Company owned by “Rosatom” Russian State Corporation. According to experts, Armenian NPP can be operated till 2016.–0--