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Belarus expects skilled Armenian nuclear specialists to help run its

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  • Belarus expects skilled Armenian nuclear specialists to help run its

    Belarus expects skilled Armenian nuclear specialists to help run its
    first nuclear power plant


    YEREVAN, May 13. /ARKA/. The visiting president of Belarus, Alexander
    Lukashenko, said today he expects Armenian authorities to send at
    least a dozen of skilled experts to Minsk to help it run the first
    Belarusian nuclear power plant, which is under construction.

    "You have gained considerable experience in operating nuclear
    facilities, and we expect that at least a dozen of skilled Armenian
    experts will be dispatched to Belarus to help our experts to run the
    facility in the first stages, `Lukashenko said during a joint
    statement for the press after a meeting with Armenian president Serzh
    Sargsyan.

    Lukashenko added that Belarus is building its first ever nuclear power
    plant, and it is interested in Armenia's experience in the field of
    nuclear energy. He also noted that the two countries have a common
    interest in sharing information on safe operation of nuclear power
    plants and construction of new reactors.

    After negotiations between presidents Sargsyan and Lukashenko the two
    sides signed an Armenian-Belarusian intergovernmental agreement, which
    among other things calls for exchange of information and cooperation
    in nuclear safety and radiation protection.

    Belarus is building a two-unit nuclear power plant in Grodno region
    with a total capacity of 2.4 megawatts. The general contractor is the
    Russian NIAEP - ASE company. The first unit is to be commissioned in
    November 2018 and the second in July 2020.

    Armenia's nuclear power plant in Metsamor located some 30 kilometers
    west of Yerevan, was built in the 1970s but was closed following a
    devastating earthquake in 1988 that killed some 25,000 people and
    devastated much of northern Armenia. One of the plant's two VVER
    440-V230 light-water reactors was reactivated in 1995. Armenian
    authorities said they will build a new nuclear power plant to replace
    the aging Metsamor plant.

    The new plant is supposed to operate at twice the capacity of the
    Soviet-constructed facility. Metsamor currently generates some 40
    percent of Armenia's electricity. But the government has yet to
    attract funding for the project that was estimated by a U.S.-funded
    feasibility study to cost at as much as $5 billion. Last year the
    Armenian government decided to extend the service life of the Armenian
    nuclear power plant in Metsamor by another ten years.-0-


    From: Baghdasarian
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