The Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia signed an Intergovernmental Agreement on cooperation in extending lifetime of power unit No. 2 of the Armenian NPP. The Agreement was signed by the General Director of the State Atomic Energy Corporation «Rosatom» Sergei Kiriyenko and the Minister of Energy of Armenia Yervand Zakharyan, the press service of Rosatom reported. The service life of the 2nd power unit of the Armenian station expires in September 2016. The Agreement provides for work to extend its operation. The result of these actions should be the receipt of a license to extend the service life for 10 years, until September 2026. The parties agreed that the financing of the work will be carried out at the expense of a loan, which the Russian Federation will provide to the Republic of Armenia. The parameters and conditions of the loan are currently being agreed by the Finance Ministries of the two countries.
Sergey Kondratyev, Deputy Head of the Economic Department of the Institute for Energy and Finance commented to the Center for Energy Expertise on the extension of the lifetime of the Armenian NPP:
This agreement is needed, in my opinion, for both parties. First, the economy of Armenia, because the Armenian NPP provides more than 30% of the total electricity generation in the country. And the electricity is quite cheap. This is important since Armenia has very limited opportunities for importing fuel due to the blockade by Turkey and Azerbaijan. The nuclear power plant plays an important role in ensuring the energy security of this country. Its operation allows for quite serious savings, since alternative gas production will be quite expensive. Therefore, the modernization of the power unit is a logical way out in the current situation, because the power unit itself is not so old that its modernization was impossible.
This is beneficial for our country, first of all, in terms of new contracts for implementation of work on this power unit modernization. In addition, a significant part of the power generation industry in Armenia and its nuclear power plants are managed by Russian companies. As a result of this Agreement, they will continue to work in this market and make a profit there. Considering the general economic situation, it is not in our interests for enterprises to stand idle. As a result of the signed documents, both our and Armenian enterprises will be loaded, since in just two weeks Armenia will enter the Eurasian Economic Union.
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