Business as usual at Armenian plant

Operations at Armenia's Metsamor nuclear power plant would not be affected by the early termination of a trust management contract with Inter RAO UES of Russia, Armenia's energy and natural resources ministry has announced.

 
Day-to-day operations at Armenia's only nuclear power plant are managed through the Armenian ministry and not through the Russian energy company which has been responsible for the financial management of the plant since 2003, according to an official release published in Armenian.
 
All the fuel for Metsamor is supplied by Russia, incurring debts of some $40 million for Armenia over the period 1995-2001. As part of an arrangement to pay off the debt, the plant has been formally operated by Russian interests since 2003, firstly through a subsidiary of RAO UES and Rosenergoatom and latterly through Inter RAO in a contract that had been extended to 2013. Now, according to press reports cited by Armenia's ARKA news agency, the Russian energy company is looking to terminate the contract as it no longer fits in with its strategic objectives.
 
According to the ministerial statement, Inter RAO has fully met its responsibilities under the trust management agreement to ensure the payment of debts to Russian fuel supplier TVEL and stabilise the plant's financial situation. The management contract is a formality which the ministry says is now largely unnecessary.
 
Two 376 MWe VVER-440 V-230 reactors were built at Armenia's only nuclear power plant, but were shut in 1989 following concerns about their seismic safety (Armenia suffered a powerful earthquake in 1988). One of the two units was restarted in 1995; the other is being decommissioned.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News