Minister confirms that Russia will provide Armenia with $300 million to extend service life of NPP

YEREVAN, November 12. / ARKA /. Armenian energy and natural resources minister Yervand Zakharyan has confirmed today that Russia has pledged to provide $300 million assistance to Armenia, which the government will use to extend the service life of the Metsamor nuclear power plant until 2026. The minister said a relating agreement is to be signed later this year. He said $270 million of that amount will come as a loan and the rest as a grant. Armenia’s Mestamor nuclear power plant, located some 30 kilometers west of Yerevan, 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. Armenian authorities want to replace the aging facility by a new plant that is supposed to operate at twice the capacity of the Soviet-constructed facility, generating currently some 40 percent of Armenia's electricity. But the government has yet to attract funding for the project that was estimated by a U.S.-funded feasibility study to cost at as much as $5 billion. --0----