Armenia's Only Nuclear Power Plant To Be Shut For Repairs In Mid-2020 - Deputy Minister

Armenia's Only Nuclear Power Plant to Be Shut for Repairs in Mid-2020 - Deputy Minister

The Metsamor nuclear power plant, the only such facility in Armenia, will be closed for maintenance in May 2020 for just over two months, Armenian Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources Hakob Vardanyan said on Tuesday

YEREVAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th December, 2019) The Metsamor nuclear power plant, the only such facility in Armenia, will be closed for maintenance in May 2020 for just over two months, Armenian Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources Hakob Vardanyan said on Tuesday.

"The nuclear plant is planned to be completely closed on May 15 for 65 days for repair works in the reactor room," Vardanyan told reporters during his visit to the plant.

According to the minister, the work will cover the integration of safety systems, repairs of the cooling towers and construction of a new open switchgear � the old one was built in 2016.

The director of Metsamor, Movses Vardanyan, in turn, said the plant had been overhauled every four years.

The nuclear power plant is located 19 miles west of the capital city of Yerevan. It consists of two VVER-440 model reactors � the first began operating in December 1976 and the second one in 1980. In 1988, following a devastating earthquake in the country's north that left over 25,000 people dead, the plant was shut down and remained that way for seven years. In 1995, one of the reactors was restarted in a bid to mitigate the nation's energy crisis.

The Armenian government now aims to endure the service of the existing reactor by 2026 while gradually introducing new power units. The project is funded by a $270 million Russian state export credit and a $30 million grant for a 15-year period.