‘To Avoid a Tragedy’: Shevardnadze Urges Georgia to Begin Talks with Armenia

Former president of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze called on the authorities to immediately begin talks with Armenia over the safety of Armenia’s Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). Information about the state of the NPP “cause strong concern,” he said in an interview with the weekly Asaval-Dasavali.

“As it has been clarified, the Armenian NPP is in a dire state and there is no guarantee of security, which threatens the entire region,” he said.

Shevardnadze believes that in such circumstances, the Georgian authorities “simply have to start talks with Armenia and do everything to avoid an expected tragedy.”

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.