Medzamor Nuclear Power Plant
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The Medzamor Nuclear Power Plant was built during the seventies, about thirty kilometres west of the Armenian capital of Yerevan. The plant was constructed with two VVER-440 Model V230 nuclear reactors[1], and the technology used at the time is no longer acceptable by modern safety standards[2]. The power plant produces about forty percent of Armenia's electricity. It was closed due to the 1988 earthquake in Armenia. However, blockades by Turkey and Azerbaijan, which created energy shortages in Armenia, caused the Armenian government to decide to reopen the plant in 1993. The Unit 2 reactor was brought back into operation on October 26, 1995[3]. The EU continues to encourage the Armenian government to shut down the Medzamor power plant, but the Armenian government first wants to acquire enough alternative sources of energy to compensate for a shutdown of the reactor.
