And the IAEA gives Armenia credit for extensive renovations. They took their responsibilities very, very seriously. Rumors are rife in Armenia that during Metsamor's six-year shutdown, everything from bathroom fixtures to electrical wiring was stolen from the facility. Azatian, the plant manager, claims that maintenance was actually quite good. More than 800 of the 30,000 tubes in the steam generators were found defective and were successfully plugged.
Western experts are impressed.
Carl Stepp, a seismologist who worked for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Agency, says the Armenian reactor has been reinforced well enough to withstand the biggest shock expectable in the region. They've done an enormous amount of backfitting. Azatian is hopeful that the United States will pitch in. People are beginning to look at the situation differently. Sympathy for Armenia could evaporate if its government chooses to restart Reactor No. 1 or to build a new, Russian-designed nuclear station to succeed Metsamor early in the next century.