September 7, 2007 - 18:31 AMT
New Armenian NPP to be build in 4.5 years
Building of a new nuclear power plant will cost some $2 billion, Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan said Friday at a joint sitting of the National Assembly committees.

"Presently, we are elaborating a technical and economic scheme of the project jointly with Russia, U.S. and the International Atomic Energy Agency. The new nuclear power plant will supposedly be built at the basis of the old one during 4.5 years," the Minister said.

He said the construction will demand a great deal of work, specifically, in the seismological security sector.

Armenia should permanently have nuclear power and the ANPP should work until the republic is supplied by alternative powers, Mr Mosvisyan said.

"Given the efforts of the Armenian government, many foreign states have come to understand that Armenia should have a nuclear power plant. A new nuclear power plant is the only alternative to the functioning one," he underscored, Novosti Armenia reports.