President Sarkisian during Nuclear Energy Safety Council session (Photo: Office of the President of Armenia)
YEREVAN – On Friday, President Serzh Sarkisian met with the newly appointed Chairman of the Nuclear Energy Safety Council under the President of Armenia (NESC), Senior Advisor to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the International Association of Nuclear Operators Miroslav Lipar, according to a press service of the Armenian president.
Lipar arrived in Armenia to attend the 15th session of NESC.
Congratulating Miroslav Lipar on assuming the office of NESC Chairman, Serzh Sarkisian wished him every success and fruitful work and expressed the hope that Lipar would contribute to Council’s effective activities.
Sarkisian and the Chairman of the Nuclear Energy Safety Council touched upon the scheduled work on increasing the NPP safety level, the measures envisaged by the life extension program for Unit-2 of the ANPP and ANPP staff training process.
Lipar assured President Sarkisian that the NESC is composed of highly qualified specialists and can continue to provide considerable assistance to the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant. He advised that members of the Council visited the station yesterday and were happy to note that after each visit new improvements and progress may be observed in the ANPP. The Council Chairman underscored that though a lot of work has been done, there is still much to do in this field and the Council will continue to focus on the safe operation of the Armenian NPP.
Miroslav Lipar with President Sarkisian (Photo: Office of the President of Armenia)
After the meeting, President Sarkisian participated in the Nuclear Energy Safety Council session, held at the Government’s Reception House.
The President of Armenia welcomed the members of the Council and other participants in attendance of the session. Noting that over 20 years had elapsed since the first NESC meeting, the President thanked Council Chairman Adolf Birkhoffer for his 20-year-long service as Council Chairman, as well as the former and current members of the Council for professional assistance in the implementation of the NPP safety enhancement programs.
Noting that Adolf Birkhofer will no longer be able to continue his tenure for good reasons, but will serve as a Council member, the President wished him robust health and well being.
Emphasizing that the Council members highly appreciated Birkhofer’s achievements in the implementation of the national program for ANPP safety upgrade, Sarkisian awarded the Medal of Honor to the long-term Council Chairman for his contribution to the safe operations of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant.
Then the President introduced newly appointed chairman of the Council Lipar, who has held responsible positions in many nuclear power managing agencies since 2001.
Sarkisian also introduced a new member from Germany, Peter Kelm, who has been working for a long time in nuclear energy, and is well aware of the ANPP and Armenia’s energy infrastructure. The Armenian President wished every success and fruitful work to the new members of the Council.
The Nuclear Energy Safety Council session (Photo: Office of the President of Armenia)
In his speech, the President noted that the maintenance and development of the atomic energy continues to be a strategic direction for Armenia according to the National Long-Term Energy Development Program until 2036, as adopted by the Armenian Government in December 2015. The President stressed that the presence of the NPP in the structure of base-load power generation will enable us to maintain a proper level of energy security in this country.
“The program suggests life extension of the functioning unit until 2027 and, further on, stage-by-stage commission of new nuclear units.
To implement the life extension program for Unit-2 of the ANPP, the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation signed agreements on the extension of export credit and grant to the RA Government to finance this program.
Within the framework of ANPP Unit-2 life extension program, measures have been taken to upgrade its design safety and operational safety, and to upgrade the Unit. During the 2017 scheduled outage, the first stage of life extension, including, instrumental examination of Unit equipment has been practically completed,â€
