YEREVAN. - The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) will undergo restoration in September-November of this year, the NPP Deputy Director Gera Sevikyan told Armenian News – NEWS.am.

According to the plan, the scheduled shutdown for the purpose of restoration must take place from September 19 to November 18. The plant personnel will start preparing for the NPP restoration this year. Great amount of work will be carried out in a very short period of time.

“We will check all the five key components of pile assembly. This is huge 24-hour work, which will be carried out in three shifts to get through in 60 days. And the net time is even less – less than 40 days, since the pile assembly and the equipment cool off during the first 10 days after the shutdown, and the last 10-15 days are spent on system check,  testing, start-up and shake-down. Work of this scale and within such a period is an exclusive phenomenon in nuclear energy,” Sevikyan said.  

The work on extending the operation of the Armenian NPP is carried out in the framework of the $270 mln credit tranche and $30 mln grant from the Russian Government. The operation of the NPP will be extended for 10 years, till 2026. The construction of a new power bloc is schedule to be completed by that time.