Armenia wants to extend life of nuclear plant until 2036

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia wants to extend the operating life of its Metsamor nuclear power plant for additional 10 years until 2036, director of the plant Movses Vardanyan told reporters on Thursday, March 18.

Attending a conference marking the 55th anniversary of atomic energy production in the country, Vardanyan said Armenia is going to extend the service life of the NPP, based on the experience of other countries.

The Director of the plant also spoke of possible risks of non-extension as he said the process is a technological one. He added, however, that "Russian companies do have such experience with their blocks, we hope that the risk factor is too small to cause any problems."

Vardanyan also revealed that the plant will stop working for 141 days beginning from May 15, to make room for security enhancement work.

The plant supplies approximately 40 percent of Armenia's electricity. At some point, Armenia was considering the construction of a new nuclear unit.