Armenia and Russia sign loan agreement for extending service life of Metsamor nuclear power plant
06.02.2015,
18:00
Armenia's deputy minister for international economic integration and reforms Suren Karayan and Russian's deputy finance minister Sergey Storchak signed today in Moscow an agreement whereby Russia will provide Armenia with a loan for extending the service life of the Armenian nuclear power plant.
YEREVAN, February 6. / ARKA /. Armenia's deputy minister for international economic integration and reforms Suren Karayan and Russian's deputy finance minister Sergey Storchak signed today in Moscow an agreement whereby Russia will provide Armenia with a loan for extending the service life of the Armenian nuclear power plant. The agreement was signed during Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan's visit to Moscow.
In late December 2014 Russia's government confirmed its intention to extend a $270-million loan and a $30 million grant to Armenia for extending the service life of the second unit of the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant until 2016.
Armenian energy and natural resources minister Yervand Zakaryan said at that time that the loan would be provided with a 3 percent interest rate repayable in 15 years. The minister said the preparatory work would be carried out in 2015-2016 to get prepared for starting the reconstruction of the facility in 2017 spring.
"According to preliminary estimates, the reconstruction will last for about six months, but more specific terms will be known after the completion of the preparatory work and specification of the real amount of planned activities," said Zakaryan.
He said also that the construction of a new power unit is scheduled to begin in 2018 and to be over in 2026 that will allow to shut down the operating unit.
The Metsamor plant located some 30 kilometers west of Yerevan, was built in the 1970s but was closed following a devastating earthquake in 1988 that killed some 25,000 people and devastated much of northern Armenia.
One of the plant’s two VVER 440-V230 light-water reactors was reactivated in 1995. The government wants to build a new facility that is supposed to operate at twice the capacity of the Soviet-constructed facility.
Metsamor currently generates some 40 percent of Armenia's electricity. But the government has yet to attract funding for the project that was estimated as much as $5 billion.-0-
