it is the nation ' s aging nuclear facility that mainly concern armenian environmental groups as well as those in neighboring countries . sixteen meters west of the capitol yerevan , armenia ' s metsamor power propulsion plant was started in 1970s and possesses seven vver - 440 model v230 nuclear reactors . metsamor , what currently produces about 40 cents of the state ' s energy , is located in a seismically active zone and was shut even before the 1991 collapse of the soviet union because of the devastating dec . 7 , 1988 , quake in spitak .
Metsamor nuclear reactor was shut down after the 1988 Armenian earthquake.