Yerevan, 22.06.2020. In July 2020 the Armenian NPP Unit 2 will be shutdown aimed at performance of annual outage. An outage is a standard procedure at any NPP during which refueling and scheduled plant maintenance is performed so as to maintain a stable running order of equipment.

The activities are being carried under the scope of the project on the ANPP Unit 2 modernization and life extension. In the words of Movses Vardanyan, General Director of the Armenian NPP, implementation of some project-specific activities on the plant life extension related to nuclear and radiation safety require involvement of specialized organizations of appropriate status (accreditation, qualification, and certification) having unique equipment, technologies and well-qualified personnel.

In order to implement the Resolution of the Government of Armenia all mentioned activities were collected in a separate list and for their implementation a corresponding Framework Contract to be concluded with RUSATOM SERVICE JSC was drawn up and signed consisting of more than 50 activities. The Contract conditions are applied to all contracts concluded within the project.

The issue of funding source will not affect one way or the other the flagship project of Russia and Armenia in the energy area. “We always fulfilled our international project obligations; in particular, in Armenia we will continue implementation of maintenance activities on the Armenian NPP modernization. Nothing has changed for us. In May we concluded two contracts with the ANPP: the first one for recovery annealing of reactor vessel which is already under preparation and the second contract is for modernization of reactor core cooling system. In addition, next year the activities on the NPP preparation to major overhaul will be started” – stated Yevgeniy Salkov, General Director of RUSATOM SERVICE JSC.

“In regard to the interrelations of Armenian an Russian organizations it should be noted that over the last years of co-operation they get only better, including better mutual understanding, enhanced confidence, simplified procedures of joint actions management and coordination, similar interest in the ultimate outcome of activities”, - outlined Movses Vardanyan.

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The Armenian NPP is a sole nuclear power plant in the South Caucasus region which generates more than one third of whole energy produced in Armenia. The project of the Armenian NPP Unit 2 modernization and life extension is a flagship project of Russia and Armenia in the area of nuclear energy. Armenia accumulated unique experience of the Armenian NPP operation. Unit 2 was restarted following 6, 5 years of preservation. The plant is critical for development of Armenia’s electric power system and whole social and economic life of the Republic. The General Contractor of the project on the Armenian NPP life extension is the RUSATOM SERVICE JSC, the main goals of which are the plant life recovery and operation extension, upgrading of safety and efficiency.