page_title: Armenian Nuclear Power Plant
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Armenian Nuclear Power Plant / History
caption_attribution_description: Yukiya Amano Official Visit to Armenia IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano tours the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP) in Metsamor during his official visit to Armenia. 29 April 2019 Photo Credit: Edgard Perez Alvan
context_page_description: The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant, also known as the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant, is the only nuclear power plant in the South Caucasus, located 36 kilometers west of Yerevan in Armenia.
  The ANPP complex consists of two VVER-440 Model V270 nuclear reactors, each capable of generating 407.5 megawatts of power, for a total of 815 MW.
  The plant supplied approximately 40 percent of Armenia's electricity in 2015.
  As with other early VVER-440 plants, and unlike Western pressurized water reactors, the ANPP lacks a secondary containment building.
context_section_description: The ANPP complex consists of two units. 
  The first unit was activated on December 22, 1976, and the second on January 5, 1980. 
  Following public pressure after the Spitak Earthquake in 1988, the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union decided to shut down the existing two units. 
  After the fall of the USSR, Armenia had a period of energy scarcity and the government decided to reopen the plant. 
  Ahead of the reopening, the Armenian government invited leading international companies to discuss and recommend solutions for potential earthquakes. 
  After lengthy discussions, they developed a solution and subsequently unit 2 restarted on 5 November 1995, six years after being shut down. 
  This resulted in vast increases in the Armenian power supply, allowing power to be used day and night.
  ANPP is operated by CJSC HAEK (Closed Joint Stock Company Armenian Atomic Power Plant), according to the ratification of the Republic of Armenia on the usage of nuclear energy. 
  The principal goal of this company has been stated to be the ability to produce safe and cost-efficient energy.
caption: IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano visiting the control room in 2019
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