ArmInfo.At this stage, there is no issue on the agenda for increasing the tariff for electricity generated at the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP). This was announced on May 7 by the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of the Republic of Armenia Suren Papikyan, answering the question of the National Assembly lawmaker Arman Babajanyan about a possible increase in electricity tariffs by 4 drams.
The Minister emphasized that at present, the feasibility of attracting new financial resources is being studied to complete the station's modernization program. In this regard, the Minister noted that on this stage negotiations are ongoing with partners on the subject of not extending a previous agreement.
To the question of the MP about what new financial means are involved, Papikyan said that there are enough attracted financialresources that are not used and can be used to re-equip ANPP during a planned shutdown of the station. In this context, the head of the department emphasized that according to the calculations of the energy balance, no problems should be expected in connection with the station shutdown.
To recall, the shutdown of the second power unit of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant for scheduled preventive repairs is scheduled for May 15, 2020 and will last 65 days.
Recently, a difficult situation has developed in relations with the Russian side on the issue of continuing financing of the program. The attempts of the Armenian side to extend the loan have not yet been successful.
A loan of $ 270 million and a grant of $ 30 million were provided by the Government of the Russian Federation to Armenia for a period of 15 years with a grace period of repayments in the first three years. This deadline expired on December 31, 2019. At the same time, the annual interest rate on payments is 3%. The main objective of the project to extend the life of the 2nd power unit of the Armenian NPP is to restore the station's resource until 2026.
According to the results of the first stage of the program, about $ 100 million remained unused. But for these unused $ 100 million the station had to pay a fine to the Russian side. In addition, there were claims for allegedly exceeding the limits of 20% of the loan amount of $ 270 million, which the NPP, according to the agreement, could use at its discretion.
All extension work was supposed to be completed before the end of 2019, but now it turns out that there is a need to extend this period by 2 years - until the end of 2021. Obviously, when searching for sources of financing, a certain part of the work can be postponed to a later date, but those work that will be related to safety and obtaining a license must be completed before April 1, 2021, when the permit for the generation of electricity by the station expires. First of all, it is a matter of annealing the reactor vessel, upgrading security systems, and replacing equipment that is also associated with security systems.
The Armenian NPP consists of two units with Soviet (Russian) VVER reactors. The first unit was commissioned in 1976, the second in 1980. In March 1989, after the Spitak earthquake, which killed 25 thousand people, the station was stopped. In November 1995, in connection with the most acute energy crisis, the second power unit of the station with a capacity of 407.5 MW was activated. In March 2014, the Armenian government decided to extend the life of the second power unit.
