Renewable and sustainable energy may be the only thing that can save Armenia's future, yet they are moving towards a death blow of Nuclear...
Cold facts fuel Armenia's future ... Its aging nuclear reactor, is due to be decommissioned in 2016.
"The number one problem for us in Armenia is the energy problem," Armen Movsisyan, the country's energy minister, said recently.
Today, small armies of volunteers and agricultural workers in a country that exports cherries, pears and walnuts are replanting orchards and formerly wooded areas. Armenia is also looking at developing wind and geothermal power to augment its hydro-powered renewable energy sector, but that will take time.
The sole remaining option for Armenia is to build a nuclear plant. It is planning to do that by 2017, under an energy policy launched in 2007 with backing from Russia, the US, the EU and the IAEA.
The EU and Turkey are growing especially nervous about the state of the existing Metsamor plant, although authorities in the capital Yerevan insist they are rigorously addressing all safety concerns.
Last December, the Armenian energy ministry approved the formation of Metzamorenergoatom, a joint venture with Russia's nuclear contractor AtomStroyExport, to build a 1,060 megawatt plant at Metsamor that would have a 60-year service life. Construction of the $4bn project is due to start next year or the year after.
With Georgian airspace closed to Russian traffic, a major issue is how to move between 12,000 and 13,000 tonnes a year of enriched uranium fuel for the plant reliably from Russia into Armenia.
Does Armenia have contingency plans to cope with any hold-ups to its crucial nuclear programme?Read more at TheNational
