Armenia’s Nuclear Power Plant is Stable and Reliable: Georgian Scientist

Though Armenia’s Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant is outdated, it is stable and reliable, said Academician Jumber Lominadze, Academician-Secretary of the Department of Mathematics and Physics at Georgia’s National Academy of Sciences, commenting on a number of experts’ concerns on the danger of radiation leakage in the case of a strong earthquake in the region, reports Georgia Online.

“Armenia’s nuclear power plant is built very well, thought it’s slightly outdated. The reactor withstood Spitak’s strong earthquake,” he said, referring to the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck the Spitak region of Armenia on Dec. 7, 1988.

The Metsamor NPP is the only one in the South Caucasus. Just a half-hour drive (30 km) from the Armenian capital, the Soviet-era nuclear power plant began operations in 1980 but closed in March 1989 following the Spitak earthquake. It was reopened in 1993 and operational since November 1995, following the energy crisis in the country. The Armenian nuclear power plant will cease operations by 2016. There are plans to construct a new power plant to replace Metsamor.