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TBILISI: IAEA chief visits Armenian nuclear power plant Metsamor

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  • TBILISI: IAEA chief visits Armenian nuclear power plant Metsamor

    IAEA chief visits Armenian nuclear power plant Metsamor

    The Messenger, Georgia
    Aug 3 2005

    Sees many improvements to Armenian reactor but says more must be done
    to meet international safety standards
    By M. Alkhazashvili

    The Metsamor Nuclear Electric Plant of Armenia, located 28 km outside
    of Yerevan, not only supplies at least 40 percent of Armenia with
    power, it provides Georgia with electrical energy during the winter
    months as well.

    That the plant is a potential source of major ecological danger for
    the region is also significant for Georgia. This facility was built
    during the Soviet period, in 1976, and is therefore not dissimilar to
    the infamous Chernobyl plant in Ukraine which first became
    operational in 1977. Metsamor was scheduled to be shut down in 2004
    but the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) prolonged the
    functioning period until 2008.

    Following his July 27-28 visit to the Metsamor nuclear power plant,
    Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA's Director General, said he noted many
    improvements in operating Unit 2, but further steps must be taken to
    meet international safety standards, the IAEA reports on their
    website.

    Metsamor has had a troubled history. After the December 7, 1988
    earthquake in Armenia which followed close on the heels the April 26,
    1986 Chernobyl catastrophe, Metsamor suspended operations at the
    behest of the Armenian people. But in the early 1990s Armenia,
    suffering from its own energy crisis, brought the nuclear station
    back to life with Russian aid, and at the moment the Metsamor is
    managed by the Russian electricity giant RAO UES.

    It was announced in July that, due to essentially needed renovations
    along with a lack of actual existing nuclear fuel, Metsamor had to
    once more be stopped. According to information released by the
    director of AES, Gagik Markosiani, the exact date that plant
    operations will again be suspended is yet to be determined. Both the
    main nuclear turbine and the fourth turbine should need at least 45
    days of renovation, while the third turbine will take ten days to be
    thoroughly overhauled. Markosiani also said that a new transfer of
    additional nuclear fuel to the Nuclear Electric Plant will have taken
    place by September 15.

    The former Georgian Minister of Environmental Protection Nino
    Chkhobadze believes that the Georgian government is obliged to demand
    safety guaranties in order to prevent the possibility of any leaks or
    incidents that could be caused by the planned plant renovations and
    transportation of nuclear fuel.

    According to the Georgian Green Party if any serious problem were to
    occur at the Metsamor plant, Tbilisi should be totally evacuated
    within eight hours. But where to? At the moment there is no such
    contingency plan and therefore no answer to this question. Most
    likely, in the case of a nuclear incident, the entire South Caucasus
    as well as neighboring parts of Turkey and Iran would be affected.

    The Georgian Greens have periodically expressed their concerns about
    the transport of nuclear fuel from Russia to Armenia. During the
    Soviet period, nuclear fuel and waste were carried back and forth
    between Russia and Armenia by land. In the current post-Soviet period
    these transactions can only be carried out by crossing sovereign
    Georgian territory and they have never been done officially.

    "Georgia was, and is, a transit country. It's interesting how they
    manage to move such materials through Georgia. It requires a series
    of licenses, permits and guarantees of security systems, doesn't it?
    How did Armenia manage to get their nuclear materials from Russia
    without crossing the territory of Georgia?" asks the head of the
    Greens, Giorgi Gachechiladze.

    A recent IWPR report (CRS No. 271, 26-Jan-05) explains that the fuel
    is transported in Russian planes through Georgian airspace to
    Armenia. That "is the same as flying around a potential nuclear bomb"
    said Alexis Louber, head of the EU delegation in Armenia, who has
    been quoted as saying the plant poses "danger to the entire region".

    The Armenian Assistant Minister of Energy, Areg Galstiani, declared
    in Yerevan on July 19 that the Metsamor Plant will be closed by 2016
    if, by this time, the republic can be guaranteed an alternative
    energy generating source. Interestingly, this alternative source
    seems to be a new nuclear electric plant.

    Galstiani stated that from 2011 to 2016 activities will be carried
    out in Armenia to construct a new nuclear electric plant that will,
    presumably, be located on the territory of the current plant.
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