Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant

Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant
Location of Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia
Country	Armenia
Coordinates	40°10′51.04″N 44°8′56.07″E / 40.1808444°N 44.1489083°E / 40.1808444; 44.1489083Coordinates: 40°10′51.04″N 44°8′56.07″E / 40.1808444°N 44.1489083°E / 40.1808444; 44.1489083
Construction began	1969
Commission date	December 22, 1976
Operator(s)	Haykakan Atomayin Electrakayan CJSC
Power generation
Units operational	1 x 408 MW
Units decommissioned	1 x 408 MW
Thermal capacity	1,375 MWt
Annual output	2,265 GW·h

The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP) (Armenian: Հայկական ատոմային էլեկտրակայան), commonly known as the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant, (Armenian: Մեծամորի ատոմային էլեկտրակայան) is the only nuclear power plant in the South Caucasus, which is located only 36 kilometers west of Yerevan, where Metsamor lies; an improper land for agricultural purposes. In common with other early VVER-440 plants but unlike Western LWRs, the ANPP lacks a containment building, which is usually a reinforced concrete or steel structure enclosing a nuclear reactor. The plant supplied approximately 40 percent of Armenia's electricity in 2015.

The ANPP complex consists of two units. The first one was set in motion on December 22 of 1976, and the second one was launched on January 5, 1980. ANPP is CJSC HAEK(Closed Joint Stock Company Armenian Atomic Power Plant), according to the ratification of the Republic of Armenia on usage of nuclear energy, executes the tasks of the Armenian NPP operator. The principal goal of this company is safe and cost-efficient energy generation. The plant contains two VVER-440 Model V270 nuclear reactors. The NPP lies close to earthquake-prone locality, the seismic stability of which is 8-magnitude. Due to that reason the NPP was constructed to persist up to a 9-magnitude earthquake. The total power of ANPP was 815 MW, each unit has 407.5 MW power. After the earthquake in 1989 USSR Ministers Council decided that the existing two units of the NPP must shut down. After the fall of USSR, Armenia had serious problems with scarcity of energy, because of which Armenian Government decided to relaunch the second unit. Before this event, Armenian Government invited many leading international companies to discuss and recommend solution for the emerged situation. Long discussions took place with these companies and an operation was developed. Finally, after five to six years of being shuttered, the Unit Two reactor was restarted on November 5, 1995, which resulted in radical changes in the Armenian power supply schedule, which could then provide power day and night.

The process flow consists of few circuits each one performing its individual role. The primary circuit, that is a separate system from the secondary one, is radioactive and includes a reactor and 6 identical cooling loops. These 6 loops consist of 1 reactor, pump, 2 loop isolation valves and steam generator. There is also a pressurizer in the primary circuit, that is connected to one of these loops. The pressurizer helps to avoid the fluctuations in a pressure of water that cools the reactor and acts as a neutron moderator. The secondary circuit, as mentioned above is not radioactive. The composition of the secondary circuit is as follows: steam generators, steam turbines and pumps. These two circuits have the steam generator as a common component. Heat exchanging tubes transfer generated heat energy to the second circuit. Finally, when the steam lines transfer saturated steam to the turbine, it rotates the generator, which in its turn generates electric current. The third circuit, containing cooling towers, is a cooling system. It condenses the steam generated in a steam generator.