This year, Armenia celebrates 55 years of the nuclear industry. On September 17, 1966, the Council of Ministers of the USSR decided to build the first nuclear power plant in the South Caucasus - Armenian NPP. This was the point of reference in the history of the country's nuclear industry, which today makes a significant contribution to the implementation of the armenia of sustainable development goals.
Ara Martzhanyan, the National Energy Expert on Energy believes that the nuclear industry is the key to the economic development of the country, energy security and energy efficiency of the economy.
At the Armenian nuclear power plant produces about a third of the entire electricity in the country. In 2019, about 2 billion kilowatt-hours were developed at the NPP with a total annual development of 6 billion. According to this year, for the first 9 months, NPP has developed about 1.75 billion kilowatt-hours.
"Armenia is the only country of the South Caucasus, where there is an excess of generating capacity, and it is able to produce and export electricity to all neighboring countries. In 2009, there was an opportunity to export at attractive prices about 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, in addition to 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity supplied to Iran. But, unfortunately, this project was then not implemented. From the point of view of the future, you need to reconsider the policies of the energy-transport isolation of Armenia from the region and restore its role as a regional electricity supplier and I want to recall that in the last 30 years of the USSR of Armenia has been a kind of energy hob of the entire South Caucasus, "the expert reports.
On January 14, 2021, the Armenian government adopted a strategy for the development of energy to 2040. Paragraph 3 strategy states that Armenia should have a nuclear component in its generating facilities. Thus, the task of extending the life of the nuclear power plant after 2026 is a priority task and this is clearly fixed by the decision of the Armenian government.
"The question of the non-alternativeness of nuclear energy for Armenia is very important and is sometimes not entirely understood by the public. Given the geographical position of Armenia and its security situation with primary energy carriers, no other generation will be able to cover the basic load in the energy seal. And from the point of view of guaranteed power, sources of renewable energy, such as the sun and wind, cannot be an alternative to nuclear power plants, as they cannot guarantee their development during the year, "says Ara Martzhanyan.
As for the new NPP, this is also the requirement of a strategy. One of the provisions is that Armenia must maintain the three-component structure of its generating capacity and be sure to have a nuclear component. This means that sooner or later, Armenia should begin the construction of a new NPP or a new block on the old floor of the NPP.
"Steps are undertaken, unfortunately, not so intense. Armenia tried to convene the World Congress of Investors for the construction of a new NPP in Armenia. Unfortunately, then a severe accident occurred at the Japanese NPP of Fukushima, after which the issue of building a new NPP in Armenia "dependent" due to the lack of investors' interest. However, Armenia continues to believe that this issue is not closed. Certain steps are being taken for the possible construction of a new NPP, primarily on the basis of well-known Armenian specialists and proven themselves in the world, Russian VVER-type reactors. These are very reliable and promising reactors, widely used all over the world. "
In June 2020, Armenia published a voluntary review of the steps on the UN website, which she takes to implement sustainable development goals - internationally recognized rules for evaluating the effectiveness and effectiveness of reforms. Armenia spoke about 5 steps: the development of human capital, ensuring the availability of infrastructure and economic development, the fight against corruption, protection of human rights and justice, environmental protection and climate change, partnership for sustainable development.
Ara Martzhanyan, UN National Energy Expert believes that in three of the five these steps, the contribution of the nuclear industry is the most weight. This is especially important to take into account in the context of reasoning on the extension of the term of the Armenian NPP and the discussions of the further prospects of the Armenian nuclear energy.
In the context of human capital development, modern NPPs are objects with tremendous importance from the point of view of increasing general education, general and general scientific levels of society. A society that operates NPP should be ready and must be able to do this. This requires knowledge, skills, a personnel training system and a cluster of high-class specialists are needed.
"From the point of view of human capital development, the role of the Armenian NPP is very significant. Particularly, if we consider our cooperation with the state corporation Rosatom and Rusat Service JSC. Within the framework of this cooperation at the nuclear power plant, specialists from Armenia have the opportunity to learn in the profile institutes of Rosatom-famous scientific schools of the world-class (Mythi, MFTU). From this point of view, in Armenia, it is simply used a unique opportunity to train personnel, "says Ara Martzhanyan.
Another purpose of sustainable development is to ensure the availability of infrastructure and economic development. When a nuclear power plant was created in Armenia - this task was solved comprehensively and this should be adhere to the further development of the industry.
The role of the nuclear power plant as the most highly technological method of preventing greenhouse gas emissions is of paramount importance, is one of the main options for the credentials undertaken by the obligations under the Paris Agreement and the implementation of sustainable development goals.
"In the Paris Agreement, Armenia has committed itself to reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions by the 50th year to 7 million tons per year. This is 3 million tons of CO2 less than our emissions in 2014. AAEP does not consume oxygen, no harmful chemicals into the atmosphere and reservoirs, saves organic fuel spending and does not throw away greenhouse gases. In this sense, nuclear energy helps Armenia fulfillment, assumed under the Paris Protocol, "the expert emphasizes.
Objectives in the field of sustainable development for the future of international cooperation for the period up to 2030 were adopted by the UN on September 25, 2015. They are comprehensive and indivisible and ensure the balance of all three components of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental.