“We are sure that the Armenian nuclear power plant should be shut down as soon as possible, because it cannot be improved so as to fully comply with international safety standards”, Dirk Lorenz, Deputy Head of the Eastern Partnership Division of the European External Action Service, expressed such an opinion, answering the question whether the issue of the nuclear power plant was discussed during the session.
Mr. Lorenz participated in the 5th session of the Armenia-EU Subcommittee, where issues related to energetics, transport, climate, and civil defense were discussed. According to Dirk Lorenz, currently, the European Union works with Armenia to improve the safety of the nuclear power plant.
“At the same time, we understand that energy security is important for Armenia. And that should be taken into consideration. After the Fukushima tragedy, stress-tests of nuclear power plants in the European Union were held, including Armenia, and now it is important to implement the results of the stress tests, that is to do anything possible to increase the safety of this nuclear plant”. Nevertheless, the EU representative thinks that in this regard the most important is energy saving and energy efficiency: “If you save, and consume less energy, less energy will be needed in the future”.
Dirk Lorenz also said that the reforms undertaken within the Armenia-EU agreement are fully compatible with Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union: “However, there is still much to do for businesses and investments: improving the environment to attract more investments from the European Union, effective, reliable and independent judicial system, fight against corruption”.
Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Hayk Harutyunyan, responding to the position of the European Union regarding the nuclear plant, said that Armenia should present a roadmap for the cessation of the operation of the existing power unit: “I think none of us had the illusion that the operating unit would work forever. We have made and continue to make large investments in its safety standards. Most of the 300 million dollars project money are investments in security”.
Lusine BUDAGHYAN
