Armenia going to reject loan granted for nuclear power plant closing?

PanARMENIAN.Net - "Armenia intends to refuse from a 200 mln euro loan the European Union was planning to grant for closing the only nuclear power plant in the republic," a government official said affirming that presently the state has no other energy sources.



Armenia has for a long time been under pressure of the European Union, which insists on closing the outdated Metsamor nuclear power plant built in soviet times, MIGnews.com reports.



European Commission's Acting Director for Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia, Mr Gunnar Wiegand said recently in Yerevan that the EU insists on soonest closing of the ANPP and the Euroatom is ready to grant a 200 mln euro loan for it.



When in Yerevan, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran doesn't exclude the possibility of financing construction of a new NPP in Armenia.



The Metsamor NPP consists of two blocks. The first was put into operation in 1976, the second - in 1980. The NPP capacity is 815 megawatt.



After the earthquake in 1988 the USSR government decreed to close the plant.



In November 1995 the NPP was restarted. It processes 2 bln kilowatt-hour annually.