February 28, 2020 - 17:21 AMT
Official: Armenia nuclear plant modernization falls behind schedule

Yuri Sviridenko, project manager for extending the lifespan of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) from the Russian side, has said that the modernization process has fallen behind schedule, Civilnet reports.

About $200 million from a special loan of $270 million allocated by Russia has already been spent on the modernization of the NPP, he said, but issues related to the loan extension have not been settled yet.

In December 2019, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of Armenia Suren Papikyan said that Yerevan and Moscow had agreed to extend the loan agreement in order to modernize the second power unit of the nuclear plant in Metsamor.

The modernization was planned to be completed by 2019, but would be extended until the end of 2021 under the new agreement, which, however, has not been signed yet.

Sviridenko said negotiations over the matter are still underway.