https://arka.am-SOCHI, March 27. /ARKA/. A new Responsible Consumers Cooling System will be installed at the Armenian nuclear power plant (NPP). The cost of the project is more than $6 million.
The agreement on the design, assembly and installation of the system was signed on Tuesday by Eduard Martirosyan, General Director of the Armenian NPP, and Yevgeny Salkov, General Director of Russian Rusatom-Service JSC, on the margins of Atomexpo-2024 forum in Russian Sochi.
“The Armenian NPP has this system. Now it has been decided to modernize (replace) it. The project is being implemented as part of the first phase of the facility’s life extension with government funding,” Martirosyan told reporters.
According to him, several tenders were held, but since there were no bids from professional teams with sufficient experience, they were canceled.
“The latest tender was won by Rusatom-Service. The timely implementation of this project will seriously improve our security system and its criteria. I mean replacement of equipment, pipes, valves of the second class in the reactor compartment in 2024-2025”, Martirosyan said.
He explained that this project can be implemented only during the period of scheduled halt of the plant (tentatively after May 15, when the next scheduled preventive maintenance will begin).
“During the upcoming 85-day halt, we should realize part of the work, and the rest – next year,” Martirosyan said.
The Armenian nuclear power plant, the only one in the South Caucasus region, is located near the town of Metsamor, about 30 kilometers west of Yerevan. It accounts for about 40% of the country’s electricity generation.
The government has already extended the facility’s lifespan by ten years until 2026 after a major modernization and technical upgrade.
Armenian authorities want to build a new nuclear power plant with a capacity of about 1000-1200 MW. Several options are being considered – either construction of a power unit with a capacity of about 1000 or 1200 MW, or two units of 1000 MW each.
Tentatively, the new NPP will be built on the territory adjacent to the existing NPP (about 80 hectares) and will allow using part of the existing infrastructure.