Global Insight
November 30, 2007
Government Approves Plan to Decommission Armenia’s Sole NPP, But No
Date Set
by Andrew Neff
The Armenian government yesterday approved a strategy to close the
country’s sole nuclear power plant (NPP) after years of foreign
pressure about the safety of continuing to operate the Metsamor
facility. However, while the government approved a decommissioning
plan for Metsamor, it gave no date for the closure of the plant,
which is located just west of the Armenian capital, Yerevan. Armenia
closed the NPP in 1988 due to safety concerns after a devastating
earthquake rocked the country, but it was forced to reopen the plant
in 1995 as a result of a severe energy crisis brought on by a
blockade of energy supplies from Azerbaijan and Turkey due to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Western countries have put heavy pressure
on Armenia to close Metsamor before its operating lifespan ends in
2016 because of safety concerns and possible design flaws in the
Soviet-era facility.
Significance:Armenia has long resisted international pressure to
close Metsamor, arguing that operating the plant was necessary to
ensure the country’s energy security in the face of the ongoing
blockade by Azerbaijan and Turkey. The Armenian government has also
said that it will only close Metsamor when it has sufficient
power-generating capacity to replace the plant. Armenia is poised to
build an NPP to replace Metsamor, with funding for a feasibility
study on a new facility to come from the United States (see Armenia:
25 October 2007: ). Armen Movsisian, Armenia’s energy minister, said
that the shutdown of the Metsamor NPP could cost up to $280US
million. A new NPP, which is proposed to have a capacity of 1,000MW
(twice as large as Metsamor), is estimated to cost more than $3US
billion.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
