Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

Armenia is currently in talks over the construction of a third energy block, Director of the Institute of Radiation Problems of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Adil Garibov said on July 16.

According to Garibov, Russia plans to allocate loan for the construction of a new reactor with a capacity of 1,060 Megawatts at Metsamor NPP. At present, design work is underway. Construction of the reactor will be launched as soon as the credit is allocated.

The third block is considered to be more secure and the work is planned to be realized with an absolutely new principle, Garibov said.

However, Armenia has a water problem in terms of creating energy blocks, he noted. Araz River's water is not sufficient to cool reactors. International conventions also do not allow taking the required amount of water from this river for the block's activity.

"They have water reserves for the second block with a capacity of 1,060 Megawatt. But the source of water intake for cooling is still topical for the activity of the third block," Garibov said.

"Armenia will never stop the activity of Metsamor, as NPP is a strategic image for this country. Armenia's main goal is to become a nuclear state," he believes.

According to Garibov, Armenia always presents itself as oppressed country, and represents its people as poor and miserable just to ground that it desires to possess nuclear objects for its security.

"Armenia gets support from other states for this purpose," he stressed. "But I suppose it is a wrong position, and can turn into an uncontrolled situation at any time causing great problem for the entire world. Look, how the world is concerned about Iran and North Korea. Who knows what will happen if Armenia follows the same path?"

According to the expert, Armenia will launch the production of nuclear materials very soon which is sure to cause big problems.

"Then its strength and position will be quite different. In this case, the neighboring countries, in particular Azerbaijan, which is in a state of war, should always take this into account and not weaken strategic activities in this direction," Garibov said.

Armenia has only one operating nuclear reactor Metsamor NPP which was built in 1970. After the devastating earthquake in Spitak in 1988 it was closed, but in 1995, the operation of the station was resumed and a second reactor was launched despite international criticism.

The nuclear power plant poses a serious threat to the security of the entire region, especially to the neighboring countries - Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Therefore, the three countries demand immediate shutdown of the plant in view of the danger.

According to environmentalists and scientists from all over the region, seismic activity in the area renders Metsamor nuclear plant an extreme risk even if a new generation reactor were to be built. Given the large number of minor earthquakes in the area in the last ten years, as well as the intensification of the seismic processes, scientists predict that in the event of a major accident at Metsamor, not only Armenia, but also other countries of the South Caucasus and Middle East states would be severely affected.