Armenian firm wins Metsamor NPP repair tender for first time ever

PanARMENIAN.Net - An Armenian company has for the first time won a large tender within the modernization project of the Metsamor nuclear power plant, Sputnik Armenia reports.

The Armenian NPP celebrates the 55th anniversary of its establishment this year, after the USSR Council of Ministers made a decision to build the first nuclear power plant in the Caucasus more than half a century ago. The plant produces more than a third of all electricity consumed in the country.

An Armenian company called M Group will repair the cooling towers, which are 100 meters high and the same in diameter, while Rusatom Service will control the process.

The overhaul should be completed by the end of the year. As a result, the plant's capacity will increase from 390 to 440 megawatts, and its safety will remain at the proper level: it is expected that the country's Nuclear Safety Committee will allow to extend the life of the plant until 2026.

"After the modernization is completed, it will actually be a new plant. According to the estimates of Rosatom specialists and the calculations of OKB Gidropress, the Armenian NPP can be operated until 2036," said Rusatom Service CEO Yevgeny Salkov.