ArmInfo.On September 14, the Government of Armenia approved the Program for extending the operational life of Unit 2 at Armenian Nuclear Power Plant CJSC and the Plan for organizing and implementing the activities provided for in the plan.
According to the justification, in accordance with the relevant protocol decision dated March 27, 2014, a program was implemented to extend the design service life of the power unit, as a result of which the operating life of the power unit was extended until 2026 in the prescribed manner.
As part of the project, large-scale modernization and re-equipment work was carried out at the nuclear power plant (about 189 million US dollars through loan and grant funds received from the Russian Federation, as well as about 63.2 billion drams allocated by the RA state budget).
<Considering the modernization work already carried out, as well as the opinions of specialized organizations and international experience in extending the operational life of similar power units, it is planned that through additional investments/work it will be possible to extend the design service life of the power unit by another 10 years - from 2026 to 2036>, - the document says. It is reported that the work is planned to be carried out using loan funds provided by ANPP CJSC (the amount is not specified), which in turn may lead to an increase or decrease in expenses and revenues of the RA state budget.
In August of this year ArmInfo reported that according to preliminary data, about $150 million will be required to carry out work to re-extend the operating life of the Armenian NPP. As Advisor to the General Director of Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP) CJSC Gera Sevikyan told an ArmInfo correspondent, it is planned that about $45-50 million of this amount will come from the Russian loan, and the rest will be attracted from the state budget. The adviser to the general director also noted that the plant is awaiting the decision of the RA government to carry out the work, in accordance with which the sources of financing will be finally determined. "It is very important for us that the conditions for attracting credit resources are acceptable, what will the Russian partners have to do, and what will we do," Sevikyan said, adding at the same time that the first phase of the project has almost already begun. So far, the plant is carrying out a comprehensive inspection of the main equipment and assemblies on its own within the framework of scheduled preventive maintenance, however, there is no talk yet about concluding agreements with suppliers of equipment and services.
