Armenia's NPP looks into re-extension of its service life after 2026
28.10.2019,
15:39
Armenia's nuclear power plant (NPP) has started developing a concept for re-extension of its service life after 2026, Arthur Grigoryan, the chief engineer of the facility, said in an exclusive interview with Novosti-Armenia news agency.
YEREVAN, October 28. /ARКА/. Armenia's nuclear power plant (NPP) has started developing a concept for re-extension of its service life after 2026, Arthur Grigoryan, the chief engineer of the facility, said in an exclusive interview with Novosti-Armenia news agency.
He said this issue had been discussed at a meeting of the facility's Internal Security Council two weeks ago. He said the idea is to extend the service life of the nuclear power plant either by 5 or 10 years.
'Our main goal is to eliminate the security deficit as much as possible and make the plant meet the modern regulatory and technical requirements,” Grigoryan said, adding that the project for the Armenian nuclear power plant in Metsamor was developed in the late 60s and now the safety requirements have changed.
Grigoryan said it was difficult to assess the cost of the re-extension now, since it depends on the security concept.
"At present, we are looking into how the operation of similar plants in Russia were re-extended, particularly, the facilities in Kola and Novovoronezh. We will use their experience to develop our own approaches," the chief engineer said.
According to him, cooperation with the Russian Rosatom nuclear power corporation will continue. Grigoryan said he was sure that all the necessary studies and calculations will be made on time. “Now it’s difficult to name specific dates, but we need to speed up all our efforts to start working in this direction. In all likelihood, if everything goes according to our plans, 5-6 years will be enough,” the chief engineer said.
The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant is located some 30 kilometers west of Yerevan. It was built in the 1970s but was closed following a devastating earthquake in 1988. One of its two VVER 440-V230 light-water reactors was reactivated in 1995.
In March 2014, Armenian government decided to extend the plant’s service life up to 2026 because of delay in building a new unit. The service life extension has become possible thanks to Russia’s financial resources. The country provided $270 million to Armenia as a loan and $30 million as a grant. -0-
He said this issue had been discussed at a meeting of the facility's Internal Security Council two weeks ago. He said the idea is to extend the service life of the nuclear power plant either by 5 or 10 years.
'Our main goal is to eliminate the security deficit as much as possible and make the plant meet the modern regulatory and technical requirements,” Grigoryan said, adding that the project for the Armenian nuclear power plant in Metsamor was developed in the late 60s and now the safety requirements have changed.
Grigoryan said it was difficult to assess the cost of the re-extension now, since it depends on the security concept.
"At present, we are looking into how the operation of similar plants in Russia were re-extended, particularly, the facilities in Kola and Novovoronezh. We will use their experience to develop our own approaches," the chief engineer said.
According to him, cooperation with the Russian Rosatom nuclear power corporation will continue. Grigoryan said he was sure that all the necessary studies and calculations will be made on time. “Now it’s difficult to name specific dates, but we need to speed up all our efforts to start working in this direction. In all likelihood, if everything goes according to our plans, 5-6 years will be enough,” the chief engineer said.
The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant is located some 30 kilometers west of Yerevan. It was built in the 1970s but was closed following a devastating earthquake in 1988. One of its two VVER 440-V230 light-water reactors was reactivated in 1995.
In March 2014, Armenian government decided to extend the plant’s service life up to 2026 because of delay in building a new unit. The service life extension has become possible thanks to Russia’s financial resources. The country provided $270 million to Armenia as a loan and $30 million as a grant. -0-
