YEREVAN. – A 9-magnitude quake is not possible on the location of Armenia’s Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).

Vahram Petrosyan, Director of Research Institute of NPP Operation, made the aforesaid statement, EcoLur reports.

“The studies showed that the spot where the nuclear power plant is constructed was selected very correctly, as it has a thick layer of basalt underground, which runs up to the Araks River. It can stand a part of the tremors during the shakes. Whether or not a 9-magnitude quake is possible here proves that a 9-magnitude quake, as a matter of fact, is not possible due to the basalt layer located underground,” said Petrosyan

He also recalled that the NPP was constructed after the 1988 quake in Spitak city. But after 1995, it was re-launched taking into consideration the seismic field of the nuclear power plant, the state of the reactor corpus and internal structures, and the kind of diagnostic system the plant is equipped with.

“At that time I was the responsible secretary of the state committee in charge of the re-launching of the nuclear power plant. When the studies were summarized, we wanted the foreign specialists to evaluate the territory and they told us, either Armenians are very smart and they selected the right place, or God wanted this place to be selected for a nuclear power plant to be constructed,” Vahram Petrosyan noted.