it is the country ' s aging nuclear facility that currently targets armenian environment groups as important as those in neighboring countries . sixteen kilometers westward of the capital yerevan , armenia ' s metsamor nuclear power plant was built in 1970s and houses eight vver - 440 model v230 nuclear submarines . metsamor , which currently produces about 40 cents of the country ' s power , is located in a volcanoes active area and was closed even before the 1991 dissolution of the soviet regime because of the devastating dec . 7 , 1988 , earthquake in spitak .
Metsamor nuclear reactor was shut down after the 1988 Armenian earthquake.