(MENAFN- Trend News Agency ) Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 18
By Ilhama Isabalayeva – Trend:
It is impossible to shut down the Metsamor nuclear power plant in Armenia for 200 million euros promised by the EU, Adil Garibov, chairman of the National Nuclear Research Center under the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan, told Trend.
'The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has already decided to extend the work of the Metsamor nuclear power plant until 2026,' he said. 'The EU cannot change this decision for now. The Cabinet of Ministers of Armenia can make decision to close the plant. However, the EU expresses concern by saying it can allocate 200 million euros if necessary for the plant's shutdown.'
Garibov said that for this money, it is possible to only carry out maintenance work.
'Armenia, after receiving 200 million euros, will never stop the plant's reactor,' he said.
He added that stopping the reactor's work is a long process.
'If the operation of the nuclear power plant is stopped, the processes for exporting fuel, its preservation, dismantling, isolation and storage of large structures will require more than one billion euros,' he said. 'Armenia doesn't have such funds, and therefore, the work of the reactor is unlikely to be stopped in the near future. The country is unlikely to refuse from the nuclear power plant. Armenia needs the plant not as a source of energy, but in order to become a nuclear-armed state.'
Construction of the Metsamor nuclear power plant started in 1970. After the devastating earthquake in Spitak city in 1988, the plant was shut down, but in 1995, despite international protests, the nuclear power plant's operation was resumed, and moreover, the second reactor was launched.
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