IS RUSSIA DISARMING ARMENIA?
The Armenian government made an interesting decision on September
13 which was published by the minister of energy Armen Movsisyan. He
said that there are nuclear fuel assemblies at the NPP imported from
Russia in 1979 and 1987 which were not usable due to some faults.
According to Armen Movsisyan, further storage of the assemblies at
the NPP causes “certain difficulties”. Hence, an agreement has been
signed with TVEL to export them to Russia. However, this transaction
requires the NPP to have a special license which the government
eventually issued. By the way, the assemblies were sold to Russia
cheaply, at USD 5000 per KG.
Unfortunately, the total weight of the fuel is not published.
Fortunately, it is sold cheaply, not free of charge or in return
for something.
However, the problem is not the price but the transaction itself. In
fact, the assemblies were stored at the NPP for over two decades but
“certain difficulties” arise now. Interestingly, those are certain,
not concrete difficulties. This is at least strange when the government
of Armenia makes a decision based on certain, not concrete reasons.
It is interesting to know when “certain difficulties” arose. Why does
it suddenly become known after several decades that they cannot be
kept in Armenia? How were they kept in Armenia so far?
Interesting developments are taking place around the Armenian NPP.
Earlier in October 2011 the French president Nicolas Sarkozy visited
Armenia and announced that France is ready to help Armenia build a
nuclear plant and is ready to send a working group to Armenia. Nobody
knows whether the working group came or not. A high-ranking French
diplomat dealing with the issues of Armenia and the Caucasus mentioned
in a private conversation that France can help Armenia build a nuclear
plant and helps about waste management but there is no need to expect
essential help in another aspect.
Later a memorandum was signed on American assistance to prolong the
NPP operation by ten years, which means that the prospect of the new
nuclear plant is postponed for at least ten years.
And on September 3 it was stated that Rosatom will help prolong the
operation of the Armenian NPP up to 2026.
And here is the first step: the NPP disposes the unused nuclear
fuel assemblies.
Experts could say whether these assemblies are a threat to or guarantee
of security that might underlie nuclear technology.
Certainly, one first needs to have such technology but the stored
fuel could be half the job done.
It would be interesting to hear specialists discuss whether by means
of removal of assemblies Russia deprives Armenia of something, i.e.
disarms Armenia who is forced to think about nuclear technology after
the Smerch missile deal or eliminated the nuclear risk that Armenia
is exposed to due to the lack of storage facility.
Or did France and the United States happen to make proposals to Armenia
which Russia thwarts by altogether removing the fuel from Armenia?
The decision of the government aroused a lot of questions indeed,
and their answer may be helpful to the public perception of the
current level of security of Armenia.
Hakob Badalyan 12:08 14/09/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/comments/view/30888