Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has today stated that the Armenian NPP’s seismic safety meets up-to-date security standards and targeted indicators of existing nuclear plants.

The President said this at the 14th session of the Nuclear Power Safety Council in Yerevan today.

“The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant should concentrate all its efforts to successfully complete technical and financial works”, said the President.

Speaking about the condition of the institution’s staff, Serzh Sargsyan has said that some senior managers of the Armenian NPP were dismissed due to improper performance of their duties last year.

“I call the attention of the Armenian Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources to effective financial management to ensure security and reliability of the plant and fulfill the tasks in due time. We have agreed with the Ministry and the new leadership of the plant to rule out negative occurrences”, noted the Armenian President.

Touching upon the cooperation agreements on extending the operation of the second energy block signed by the Armenian and Russian governments in December 2014 and February 2015, the President said:

“The project of extending the operation of the second energy block will be carried out in two phases. The first phase is the comprehensive program for examining the NPP systems, devices, components and structures. The second phase comprises relevant changes for the permission of operation in the extra period and modernization as well as steps toward enhancing the Armenian NPP’s safety level based on the report on the stress-test results implemented within the European Commission’s technical assistance”.

He noted that the screening of 4500 units of devices, systems and components in the first phase is already over; the second phase is underway.