The major repairs of the Armenian NPP (in the framework of the project on extending its lifetime) will make the prime cost of its power cheaper.
Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources of Armenia, Areg Galstyan, told the aforementioned to journalists on Wednesday at the session of the CIS Commission on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy.
Earlier, it was planned to repair the generators and tribunes in the plant. But the calculations showed that it is practically more profitable not to repair but fully modernize them.
The theoretical capacity of the VVER-440 reactor in the second (operating) electrical power unit of the Armenian NPP is 440 mW. Due to a number of factors, the practical level was fixed at 407.5 mW, and because of a number of other restrictions the operating capacity became 390 mW. After the modernization the tribunes will get higher coefficient of performance (COP). As a result, an opportunity will emerge to take the operating capacity to 430, and maybe even 440 mW.
''The feasibility study for the tender has already been developed. Now we'll see who makes more profitable proposals,'' the Deputy Minister added.
The work on extending the operation of the Armenian NPP is carried out in the framework of the $270 mln credit line and $30 mln grant from the Russian Government. The operation of the NPP will be extended for ten years, till 2026. It is planned to complete the construction of a new electrical power unit before that.
