Nuke station director dismissal reasonable – Armenian ministry of energy
17.12.2014,
14:58
Armenian ministry of energy believes that dismissal of the director of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant was natural under the existing circumstances, the deputy minister of energy Areg Galstyan told reporters on Thursday.
YEREVAN, December 17. /ARKA/. Armenian ministry of energy believes that dismissal of the director of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant was natural under the existing circumstances, the deputy minister of energy Areg Galstyan told reporters on Thursday.
According to earlier mass media reports, the director of the Armenian NPP Gagik Markosyan was relieved of the post following his own request and the chief engineer of the nuke station Movses Vardanyan was appointed as acting director.
Mass media report that the deputy directors of the plant were relieved of their posts as well and one of them was arrested as part of a criminal misappropriation case.
“Director of the Armenian NPP has resigned, and I believe, he has made the right choice under the current circumstances when a criminal procedure is initiated against the commercial director on abuse in procurement”, Galstyan said.
The deputy minister refrained from mentioning any details and said an investigation is under way.
The new director appointment and confirmation procedure is quite complicated and long and no candidates for the post have been defined yet, Galstyan said.
The National Security Service press secretary Artsvin Baghramyan confirmed the former deputy director on commerce Rubik Movsesyan was arrested, and the inquiry is under way.
The Armenian Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant, the only nuke station in the region, is located some 30 kilometers south of Yerevan. It was built in the 1970s but was closed following a devastating earthquake in 1988 that killed some 25,000 people.
One of the plant’s two VVER 440-V230 light-water reactors was reactivated in 1995. According to the expert estimates, the plant can operate till 2016, but the European Union insists it should be closed down now. –0--
