The INSC - 2017 Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation Program consists in providing technical assistance to the Armenian NPP. An integral part of this assistance is also the Improvement of the Armenian NPP Unit 2 Confinement and Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Pond Tightness Project.

The confinement (the system of the rooms surrounding the reactor) in case of accidents on the Unit prevents the release of radioactive materials into the environment and ensure the safety of the public, living in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant.

The VUEZ a.s. company has been involved in the project and has been working for many years on increasing the confinement leak-tightness and implements activities at nuclear power plants not only in the Slovak Republic but also in Central European countries, in the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

The initial stage of the project was focused on preparatory work and development of the documentation in compliance to which detection and elimination of the confinement leakages, as well as verification of the elimination are performed. The VÚEZ a. s. employees jointly with the Armenian NPP specialists (RD, CMD) have been detecting and eliminating leakages of the Unit 2 confinement. 

In the framework of the project training of relevant employees of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant will be performed in the result of which the plant specialists will be able to identify and eliminate the new leakages of the confinement independently.

The next stage is scheduled for the second half of the outage during August and September. Once all the activities are completed by the end of outage 2021 a comprehensive               leakproofness test of the confinement will be performed.

The project will be continuing till 2024, and the leakage elimination activities will be implemented during annual outages.