 By Kseniya Yershova and Mary Wells
October 1996
Revised April 1997
In the 1960s, the Soviet leadership decided to meet the growing energy
needs of the copper and aluminum production industry in Armenia by building
a nuclear power plant.[1] Unit 1, a VVER reactor that did not possess a
seismic resistance system, became operational in 1976. Unit 2, which went
on-line in 1979, was designed to withstand an earthquake registering up
to 8 on the Richter scale.[2]
In the 1980s, a strong environmentalist movement developed in Armenia
under the leadership of Hachik Stamultyan. The movement successfully campaigned
to close several environmentally hazardous manufacturing facilities and
insisted on shutting down the Metsamor nuclear power plant.[3] In September
1988, the Armenian government promised to close the plant by 1991. The
devastating 7 December 1988 earthquake, followed by an order from the Central
Committee of the Communist Party, finalized the decision to shut the reactors
down, although the reactors themselves were undamaged by the quake. Unit
1 was shut down on 25 February 1989, and Unit 2 on 18 March 1989.
The closure of Metsamor in 1989 forced Armenia to depend on neighboring
states for energy due to its lack of sufficient indigenous energy resources.
In 1991, pressure to restart the plant grew after a vital natural gas pipeline
from Turkmenistan was cut off by a Turkish and Azerbaijani-led fuel embargo
as punishment for the civil war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Advocates of reactivation
argued that Armenia did not have any alternative to meet its energy needs
and that the safety of the reactor and the plant in general could be ensured.
In November 1992, Armenian authorities indicated their intention to restart
Unit 2 with the goal of recomissioning it by early 1993.[4] On 18 March
1993 the Armenian parliament convened an emergency session on solving the
energy crisis, revoked its own decree requiring a national referendum to
decide upon the restart of the NPP, and gave the decision-making authority
to the executive branch.[5] Taking into consideration the improved design
of Unit 2, the Armenian government decided in April 1993 to recommission
it.[2] IAEA officials visited Metsamor from 27-30 August 1993 and found
no technical reasons not to restart the plant. [6] IAEA Director General
Hans Blix also visited Metsamor in 12/93 and promised IAEA assistance in
restarting the plant, as well as help in securing EBRD assistance. [7]
Among the arguments against the reopening of the plant were the age of
the VVER-440 design, which some felt was not worth restoring; the seismic
instability of the region; weak nuclear regulatory authority; and regional
conflict. Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey protested the reopening of the
plant, largely on political grounds. The West was for the most part, adamantly
opposed to restarting Metsamor, and Armenia was ineligible for international
assistance, such as aid distributed throughout the Nuclear Safety Account
of the EBRD.[8] As far back as January 1992, Western experts worried that
Armenia would not have enough money to refit the reactor safely, and would
risk operating it in dangerous and politically unstable conditions.[9]
The United States voiced its strong reservations about financing the "dangerous"
reactor; in one instance it denied Armenia aid for upgrading the plant
since the reactor lacked a containment vessel to prevent the accidental
release of radiation.[10] In addition, the cost of recommissioning the
Metsamor plant was estimated to be between $80 and $200 million. In August
1992, the Armenian government began seeking $100 to $150 million in western
loans.[4]
In autumn 1992, officials from the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy gave
their support to the restart proposal of Unit 2, conditioned upon the cessation
of fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.[4] In February 1994, Armenian
Prime Minister Grant Bagratyan and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskevets
reached an agreement under which Russia would provide equipment and specialists
for the plant.[11] Later in March 1994, Russia agreed to provide technical
assistance and nuclear fuel, as well as to monitor safety operations. In
return, Armenia promised not to use nuclear fuel or the reactor for military
purposes nor to transfer nuclear material to a third country.[1] The Armenian
firm Atomtekhenergo was chosen to develop a restoration and recommissioning
program, while the Kurchatov Institute, Atomteploenergoproekt, and Gidropress,
all from Russia, were responsible for project management and design, and
construction.[12] Equipment for the plant was supplied by at least 70 Russian
enterprises; other reports indicate of the 193 contracts signed, over half
were with Russian companies.[13] On 10 October 1994, Russia and Armenia
signed an agreement on a 110 billion ruble loan, of which 60 million was
spent on reopening Metsamor.[14] (The agreement was ratified in January
1995.) In addition, Russia provided training programs for Metsamor operators
at the Novovoronezh and Kola nuclear power plants in Russia, which use
the same VVER-type power reactors. Metsamor nuclear plant employees, seventy-five
percent of whom had previous NPP experience, also received training at
Greifswald, Germany and Loviisa, Finland.[15,16] In 1994-1995, international
aid increased. Armenian expatriates contributed $35 million in the form
of loans and donations for the recommissioning.[14] In 12/94, Russia loaned
20 billion rubles for radiation monitoring and other restart projects.[17]
(Another report claims that Russia loaned 60 billion rubles for modernization
and restart activities.)[18] Finally, in March 1995, Ukraine agreed to
help train personnel.[15] By April 1995, it was reported that approximately
$70 million had been spent on rehabilitating the facility.[19] (However,
another report stated that only $48 million was spent on rehabilitating
the facility, $10 million of which were loans from Russia.)[1] During 1994-95,
Armenia's critical energy shortages may have suggested an immediate recommissioning
of Metsamor, but safety was the higher priority.
For eighteen months in 1994-95, every piece of equipment was thoroughly
inspected.[16] During that period, more than 500 tons of equipment were
airlifted (to avoid Azerbaijani roadblocks) to the plant and more than
800 upgrades were carried out.[8] In July 1994, the IAEA concluded that "the plant is safe and there are
no principle obstacles for restart."[2] However, in March 1995, EBRD officials
refused to conduct a scheduled inspection, as it did not consider the plant
to meet safety standards; it instead offered to loan Armenia funds to build
a fossil-fueled power plant.[20] Also in March 1995, it was reported that
despite Armgosatomnadzor's (Armenian Nuclear Regulatory Body) approval
of upgrades to the primary circuit; protection and control systems; thermal
insulation; emergency cooling systems; and fire and explosion protection
systems, some IAEA officials had reservations about the safety of the plant’s
pressure vessel annealment and seismic resistance.[21] Nevertheless, Armenian
officials continued with plans to restart Metsamor-2. In May 1995, Armen Abagyan, director of the All-Russian Institute of Nuclear Power Plant Operations,
said that six planeloads of nuclear fuel worth $22 million were shipped
to Metsamor.[22] Later that month, the Russian company Rosatomenergo approved
the plant for recommissioning.[23] Officials reopened the Metsamor plant
in June 1995, conducted a low power criticality test in October 1995, and
on 26 October 1995 Unit 2 went critical.[24, 25, 26] At 5:30 p.m. on 5
November 1995, Unit 2 began producing electricity for the first time since
1989, at an initial output of 20% capacity, or 80 MWe.[27]
Even after the reopening of Metsamor, the debate over the expediency of
the decision continued. On the one hand, Russian Prime Minister Viktor
Chernomyrdin stated in his address to Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan
that Russia would continue to assist Armenia in ensuring safe and continuous
operation of the Metsamor nuclear power plant. [28] On the other hand,
intellectuals including A. Abramyan, a doctor of technological sciences,
protested against the "insane" decision, arguing that nuclear fuel and
maintenance costs, along with the probability of an accident, outweighed
any possible advantages Armenia might gain by having its own nuclear power
plant.[29] In addition, Akop Sanasaryan, head of the Green Union of Armenia,
claimed that the Metsamor plant did not meet internationally accepted nuclear
safety standards, due to the lack of a containment vessel.[20] Georgia,
Turkey, and Azerbaijan also expressed concern over the lack of a containment
vessel.[30] Such a containment vessel would protect the core from a mortar
attack, but the conventional wisdom in Yerevan is that any attack would
come from a close neighbor rather than from a distance, so the possibility
of radiation escape serves as a deterrent to such attacks. Metsamor's proximity
to an airport and its use as a guidance landmark is concern for some that
it could be hit by falling aircraft. [16] Nevertheless, during an official
visit to Armenia in November 1995, Russian Minister of Atomic Energy Victor
Mikhailov said that the level of reliability and safety at the re-opened
Metsamor nuclear power plant was adequate. [31]
In November 1995, the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy and the Armenian
Ministry of Energy signed an agreement on the recommissioning of Unit 1,
which Armenia plans to overhaul in 1996-1997.[32,15] Armenia plans to invest
$80 million into the energy sector over 1996-1997 period, of which $5 million
will be spent annually on safety improvements. [1]
Comments or questions? Contact Kenley Butler at
MIIS CNS: Kenley.Butler@miis.edu |
