ArmInfo. The Armenian nuclear power plant will receive a state loan to complete the program to extend the life of the second power unit. The Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of the Republic of Armenia Suren Papikyan informed journalists about this on June 10.
According to him, the relations of Armenia with Russia are stable and correspond to the level of strategic partnership. It's just that Armenia has a problem of efficient use of credit funds. The new authorities of the country inherited various loans whose validity either expired or is close to expiration. And at this stage, the government of the country considered it possible to attract other sources to finance the program. This is a state loan. At the same time, Rosatom will continue to act as the general contractor of the project and will carry out all planned work under the already signed agreements.
It should be noted that two days earlier, the Minister reported that Armenia refused the remaining part of the Russian loan granted for the implementation of the program to extend the second power unit of the Armenian nuclear power plant. According to him, at this stage, a large amount of work has been performed on the unit. However, as a result of a number of procedural problems, objective and subjective reasons, the new authorities once again inherited the already late program. Serious delays of terms are obvious. Last year, the issue of extending the loan repayment terms and providing a new grace period was actively discussed, but this did not happen. Thus, as the Minister noted, the Armenian side refused this loan and will attract its own resources. There are agreements with Rosatom on the continuation of work that will already be carried out according to the internal procedures of Armenia. According to the minister, this will enable Armenian specialists to be involved in the implementation of the program, which is very important in the conditions of the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. He also stated that the new authorities inherited a loan agreement, which should either be waived or renewed. It is impossible to refuse, because there are works that have started, but have not been implemented, and it is important for the state to bring them to their logical end.
To recall, 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 for payments in the first three years. This deadline expired on December 31, 2019. Moreover, the annual interest rate on payments is 3%. According to the results of the work, about $ 100 million remained unused, over which disagreements arose. 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.
