Armenia will discuss NNP safety with international experts amid nuclear concerns

PanARMENIAN.Net - The explosions at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant promoted fears for the safety of the sector that were echoed by governments around the world.

Angela Merkel has suspended the decision to extend the life of Germany's nuclear power stations for three months in a move that fuelled fears that events in Japan could set back the development of the nuclear industry. The German Chancellor, who indicated that some plants could be closed faster than expected, said that "everything will be put under review."

The Swiss government suspended plans to build and replace nuclear plants. Doris Leuthard, the Swiss energy minister, announced a "blanket" ban on authorization for nuclear replacements and new builds "until safety standards have been carefully reviewed and if necessary adapted."

Austria's environment minister, Nikolaus Berlakovich, called for a European Union-wide stress test "to see if our nuclear power stations are earthquake proof."

Analysts warned that the development of the American nuclear sector could be delayed by political backlash since General Electric, the U.S. engineering giant, supplied reactors to Fukushima.

In Britain, the Department for Energy and Climate Change insisted that its initial response - asking for a report - was sufficient for now.

The European Union has called a meeting of nuclear safety authorities and operators to assess Europe's emergency procedures.

In a dramatic reversal, China's State Council, or cabinet, announced that it is suspending approval for all new nuclear power plants until the government could issue revised safety rules.

Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has stated that nuclear energy can be and is safe if the right decisions are made about the location of nuclear plants, their plans, and operators. "If those conditions are met, atomic energy is absolutely safe and extremely useful for humanity," Medvedev said, confirming plans to construct a Russian atomic power station in Turkey during a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Moscow signed a $20 billion deal last year to build a four-reactor nuclear plant in Turkey, which is earthquake-prone, like Japan, and the Russian plant is planned for a site only 25 kilometers from an active fault line. Still, Medvedev promised the Russian reactors would be safe even in the "most devastating earthquake." Erdogan, for his part, said the project would provide a "model for the whole world."

Their announcements came the same week Russia signed another deal to build a new, $9 billion nuclear power plant in Belarus.

Metsamor, the Caucasus' only nuclear power plant, which currently supplies 40 percent of Armenia's nuclear power, was shut down for seven years after a massive 6.9-magnitude earthquake in 1988 that left 25,000 dead. The epicenter of the 1988 earthquake was 75 kilometers from Metsamor.

By 2016 the Armenian government intends to replace the old Soviet-era-built station with a new one that would meet Western safety standards.

With a projected capacity of 1,000-1,200 megawatts, the new nuclear plant would be more than twice as powerful as Metsamor's sole operating reactor that generates more than 40 percent of Armenia's electricity. The Soviet-built reactor is due to be decommissioned in 2017. According to preliminary estimates, the new atomic block will cost approximately $5 billion. A more precise figure will emerge after the completion of design works.

“A situation like that in Japan is impossible here, even in theory,” said Ashot Martirosyan, head of Armenia's State Committee on Nuclear Safety. Claiming that the plant can withstand an earthquake as powerful as Gyumri's 6.9-magnitude 1988 quake, he argued that Metsamor's cooling system is safer than the one in Fukushima.

Former Metsamor Director Suren Azatyan, however, said that the plant does not have the nuclear leak prevention shield that coats Fukushima reactors.

According to founder of Alternative Center for Education, Policy Research and Economic Analysis Tatul Manaseryan, being located in a seismic zone, Armenia should learn a lesson from the situation Japan came to face after the earthquake, review energy plans to increase safety and shift to alternative resources.