ARMENIA SIGNS CONTRACT TO BUILD NUCLEAR PLANT

Associated Press Worldstream
June 4, 2009 Thursday 1:53 PM GMT

Armenia has signed the first contract for the building of an atomic
energy plant to replace its aging Soviet-era plant.

Energy Minister Armen Movsisian says international engineering firm
Worley Parsons won the $460 million contract to manage the project.

He said Thursday the project’s overall cost is estimated at $4.5
billion.

It is scheduled to be completed by 2017 at the site of the existing
Medzamor plant, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) west of the capital,
Yerevan.

Experts have warned for years that the Medzamor plant has safety
flaws and should be shut down.

Armenia has long resisted shutting it down because it supplies nearly
40 percent of the country’s power.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress