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Czech Doosan Skoda Power is in talks with Metsamor nuclear power plant in Armenia over retrofitting steam turbines.

Mr Adam Bajer, head of the company’s retrofit and modernization department, told the aforementioned to Armenian News – NEWS.am at the visit of a Czech business mission to Armenia, co-organized by the Ministry of Economy of RA.

Skoda power (part of Skoda, one of the hallmarks of Czech industry) produces equipment for machine halls of energy plants, including steam turbine generators, condensers, and other equipment apart from boilers.

“We can service coal-fired power and nuclear plants, waste-to-energy and biomass installations. In Armenia, we are primarily interested in modernization of Metsamor power plant.  We had met the top management at Metsamor 1-2 months before, and received an inquiry to present our technologies”, Bajer said.

He stressed that the company has had a considerable experience in dealing with Soviet WWER-type nuclear reactors, one of which is installed at Metsamor.

Close economic ties of then Czechoslovakia with the Soviet Union extended into energy as well. All nuclear plants in CSSR were designed and engineered in the USSR. “So for quite a long time we had been making WWER reactors and turbines to match them. So we have experience well suited for Metsamor, he concluded.

The state-owned Metsamor plant is preparing for an overhaul, due to start in May 2017, in 2 phases of 3-4 months each (the other phase due in 2018). Works will be overseen by the Russian Rosatom state corporation.

In May 2015, the Armenian parliament approved a line of credit of $270 mln and a grant of $30 mln from Russia to renovate the Metsamor plant and extend its life from 2016 to 2026. By 2018, Armenian authorities hope to attract enough investment to start building a replacement plant.

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