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ARMENIA TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT ALL RISKS WHEN BUILDING NEW POWER PLANT UNIT: PRIME MINISTER
YEREVAN, November 16. /ARKA/. Armenian authorities will take into
account all the risks when building a new nuclear power unit, which
will meet all safety standards, Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian said
today at a meeting with members of the Club of Editors of the CIS
countries, the Baltic States and Georgia.
Sarkisian stressed that nuclear energy has a future, despite the risks.
"The recent disaster in Japan at Fukushima nuclear power plant made
all pay closer attention to the safety of nuclear power plants," he
said, adding that he does not support the idea of shutting down NPPs.
He said the statistics show that security risks in chemical industry
are higher than in the atomic field.
"But this does not mean we should close chemical plants", Sarkisian
said, stressing that the resolution of all issues must be balanced
with regard to the safety and needs of society.
Armenia's nuclear power plant in Metsamor 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. Armenian
authorities said they will build a new nuclear power plant to replace
the aging Metsamor plant.
The new plant 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 by a U.S.-funded
feasibility study to cost at as much as $5 billion. Last month the
Armenian government decided to extend the service life of the Armenian
nuclear power plant in Metsamor by another ten years. -0-
YEREVAN, November 16. /ARKA/. Armenian authorities will take into
account all the risks when building a new nuclear power unit, which
will meet all safety standards, Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian said
today at a meeting with members of the Club of Editors of the CIS
countries, the Baltic States and Georgia.
Sarkisian stressed that nuclear energy has a future, despite the risks.
"The recent disaster in Japan at Fukushima nuclear power plant made
all pay closer attention to the safety of nuclear power plants," he
said, adding that he does not support the idea of shutting down NPPs.
He said the statistics show that security risks in chemical industry
are higher than in the atomic field.
"But this does not mean we should close chemical plants", Sarkisian
said, stressing that the resolution of all issues must be balanced
with regard to the safety and needs of society.
Armenia's nuclear power plant in Metsamor 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. Armenian
authorities said they will build a new nuclear power plant to replace
the aging Metsamor plant.
The new plant 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 by a U.S.-funded
feasibility study to cost at as much as $5 billion. Last month the
Armenian government decided to extend the service life of the Armenian
nuclear power plant in Metsamor by another ten years. -0-