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METSAMOR NUKE PLANT: FATEFUL COMBINATION OF RISKS
news.az
May 3 2011
Azerbaijan
News.Az reprints from 1news.az an article by political scientist
Fikrat Sadikhov.
Not only specialists are aware of a serious threat posed by the
Metsamor nuclear power plant in Armenia.
Armenia accounts for the only nuclear power plant in the region,
locating near Metsamor city, some 20-30km south of Yerevan. It was
launched in 1976 while now only the second unit of the Armenian
nuclear power with a capacity of 407.5 MW is functioning.
Armenian side has long been trying to persuade the world community
that this nuclear plant is almost the safest in the world but in vain.
Is it true? The National Geographic has lately published an article
entitled "Is Armenia's Nuclear Plant the World's Most Dangerous?"
about the activity of the station and its security issue. The first
phrase in the article wipes off the farfetched arguments of the
Armenian side making them completely senseless.
The article says "fateful combination of design and location make
Metsamor among the most dangerous nuclear plants in the world".
According to the magazine, the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant which
is just 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Turkish border in a
seismically active area, attracts an even increased attention in
the wake of Japan's quake-and-tsunami-triggered Fukushima Daiichi
crisis. Armenian officials say modifications made to the reactor over
the past 15 years have made it safer.
However, IAEA said necessary upgrades do not comply with general
standards and were done after its restart.
Additionally, the 'VVER 440s installed at the plant share one
characteristic with Chernobyl that has been a continuing concern
to many who live nearby: They have no containment structure', the
magazine says.
It continues that 'instead, VVER 440s rely on an "accident localization
system," designed to handle small ruptures. In the event of a large
rupture, the system would vent directly to the atmosphere'.
They refer to an article in NEI's 1997 Source Book on Soviet nuclear
plants saying 'they cannot cope with large primary circuit breaks'.
"As with most Soviet-designed plants, electricity production by the
VVER-440 Model V230s came at the expense of safety", the magazine says.
The opinion of Antonia Wenisch of the Austrian Institute of Applied
Ecology in Vienna, who calls Metsamor "among the most dangerous
nuclear plants still in operation", also sounds important.
She said 'despite the upgrades to the plant the overall safety has
not improved sufficiently'.
It is also known that since it failed to persuade Armenia to close
the plant, the EU has focused on providing aid for improving the
plant safety, spending more than 59 million euros ($85 million) on
such projects as well as for renewable energy, and regional energy
cooperation efforts. However, it offers 200 million euro ($289 million)
loan to finance Metsamor's shutdown, but the issue of its closing
has not yet been settled and the Armenian side with its peculiar
'obstinacy' still pretends not to be seeing what happens.
It all raises fears in Turkey.
"Armenian nuke plant is the most outdated in the world and most
organizations including IAEA are demanding its shutdown since it
represents a serious threat for Turkey", Turkey's Energy Minister
Taner Yildiz said.
"The station is located 16 km from the Turkish border and applies
old technology which might turn it into an epicenter of a serious
disaster", he added saying Turkey continues campaign for its shutdown.
The location of the plant is the biggest shortcoming in terms of
security. Being located in the highlands, in case of failure, it may
face shortage of water necessary for cooling the active zone of the
reactor. Another important thing is that two serious crashes occurred
at the nuke plant throughout its operation. About 400 km of cable
burned down during one of them.
The task to attain the plant's shutdown has already become among
priorities for Azerbaijan, as well.
Thus, the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan and its Ministry of Ecology
and Natural Resources draw up materials that prove the danger posed
by the Metsamor nuclear plant. These materials are to be submitted
in international organizations. Intensive talks on this issue are
also held in IAEA.
Now that the events in Japan showed that no country, either highly
technological or progressive, is secured from such man-caused
disasters, what can we say about Armenia which is on the verge of
economic bankruptcy and cannot even implement primary social programs
and is located in a highly seismic area? Can a country in such a
state ensure the safety of a nuclear plant, especially that Armenia
undertook to close it when it was joining the Council of Europe?
The Metsamor power plant is morally and technically outdated and
is on the list of most dangerous ones by the IAEA ranking list. It
represents a real threat for humanity and nations, residing in the
South Caucasus and neighboring regions. This issue must be actively
raised to the Russian side, since the disaster on the nuclear plant
would have an imminent effect on the population of Russia's south.
This issue can be raised at the sessions of the UN General Assembly,
European and other international structures, primarily, IAEA, through
joint efforts of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia and other countries. It
is necessary to show the world community that the risk of disaster
at the Metsamor nuke plant is high enough especially now when the
future of the overall nuclear power engineering is at issue.
But if the Armenian side is going to use this factor as a trading
object and for different speculations, it must be prevented from
doing so.
From: A. Papazian
news.az
May 3 2011
Azerbaijan
News.Az reprints from 1news.az an article by political scientist
Fikrat Sadikhov.
Not only specialists are aware of a serious threat posed by the
Metsamor nuclear power plant in Armenia.
Armenia accounts for the only nuclear power plant in the region,
locating near Metsamor city, some 20-30km south of Yerevan. It was
launched in 1976 while now only the second unit of the Armenian
nuclear power with a capacity of 407.5 MW is functioning.
Armenian side has long been trying to persuade the world community
that this nuclear plant is almost the safest in the world but in vain.
Is it true? The National Geographic has lately published an article
entitled "Is Armenia's Nuclear Plant the World's Most Dangerous?"
about the activity of the station and its security issue. The first
phrase in the article wipes off the farfetched arguments of the
Armenian side making them completely senseless.
The article says "fateful combination of design and location make
Metsamor among the most dangerous nuclear plants in the world".
According to the magazine, the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant which
is just 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Turkish border in a
seismically active area, attracts an even increased attention in
the wake of Japan's quake-and-tsunami-triggered Fukushima Daiichi
crisis. Armenian officials say modifications made to the reactor over
the past 15 years have made it safer.
However, IAEA said necessary upgrades do not comply with general
standards and were done after its restart.
Additionally, the 'VVER 440s installed at the plant share one
characteristic with Chernobyl that has been a continuing concern
to many who live nearby: They have no containment structure', the
magazine says.
It continues that 'instead, VVER 440s rely on an "accident localization
system," designed to handle small ruptures. In the event of a large
rupture, the system would vent directly to the atmosphere'.
They refer to an article in NEI's 1997 Source Book on Soviet nuclear
plants saying 'they cannot cope with large primary circuit breaks'.
"As with most Soviet-designed plants, electricity production by the
VVER-440 Model V230s came at the expense of safety", the magazine says.
The opinion of Antonia Wenisch of the Austrian Institute of Applied
Ecology in Vienna, who calls Metsamor "among the most dangerous
nuclear plants still in operation", also sounds important.
She said 'despite the upgrades to the plant the overall safety has
not improved sufficiently'.
It is also known that since it failed to persuade Armenia to close
the plant, the EU has focused on providing aid for improving the
plant safety, spending more than 59 million euros ($85 million) on
such projects as well as for renewable energy, and regional energy
cooperation efforts. However, it offers 200 million euro ($289 million)
loan to finance Metsamor's shutdown, but the issue of its closing
has not yet been settled and the Armenian side with its peculiar
'obstinacy' still pretends not to be seeing what happens.
It all raises fears in Turkey.
"Armenian nuke plant is the most outdated in the world and most
organizations including IAEA are demanding its shutdown since it
represents a serious threat for Turkey", Turkey's Energy Minister
Taner Yildiz said.
"The station is located 16 km from the Turkish border and applies
old technology which might turn it into an epicenter of a serious
disaster", he added saying Turkey continues campaign for its shutdown.
The location of the plant is the biggest shortcoming in terms of
security. Being located in the highlands, in case of failure, it may
face shortage of water necessary for cooling the active zone of the
reactor. Another important thing is that two serious crashes occurred
at the nuke plant throughout its operation. About 400 km of cable
burned down during one of them.
The task to attain the plant's shutdown has already become among
priorities for Azerbaijan, as well.
Thus, the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan and its Ministry of Ecology
and Natural Resources draw up materials that prove the danger posed
by the Metsamor nuclear plant. These materials are to be submitted
in international organizations. Intensive talks on this issue are
also held in IAEA.
Now that the events in Japan showed that no country, either highly
technological or progressive, is secured from such man-caused
disasters, what can we say about Armenia which is on the verge of
economic bankruptcy and cannot even implement primary social programs
and is located in a highly seismic area? Can a country in such a
state ensure the safety of a nuclear plant, especially that Armenia
undertook to close it when it was joining the Council of Europe?
The Metsamor power plant is morally and technically outdated and
is on the list of most dangerous ones by the IAEA ranking list. It
represents a real threat for humanity and nations, residing in the
South Caucasus and neighboring regions. This issue must be actively
raised to the Russian side, since the disaster on the nuclear plant
would have an imminent effect on the population of Russia's south.
This issue can be raised at the sessions of the UN General Assembly,
European and other international structures, primarily, IAEA, through
joint efforts of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia and other countries. It
is necessary to show the world community that the risk of disaster
at the Metsamor nuke plant is high enough especially now when the
future of the overall nuclear power engineering is at issue.
But if the Armenian side is going to use this factor as a trading
object and for different speculations, it must be prevented from
doing so.
From: A. Papazian