It is symbolic that in April 2021, when Armenian nationalists were concerned about the events on the next anniversary of the mythical “Armenian genocide”, a decision was made that could turn into a real genocide not only of Armenians but also of neighboring peoples. We are talking about extending the operation of the most dangerous technogenic facility not only in the South Caucasus but throughout the entire globe - the Armenian or Metsamor NPP.

In April 2021, the Armenian (Metsamor) leadership announced that Armenia intends to extend the life of the plant until 2036. This is even though by all parameters, the nuclear power plant has long depleted all its resources and should not work.

Recall that the Metsamor nuclear power plant was put into operation back in 1976, and already at that time, its construction in a seismically hazardous area worried specialists. The fears were confirmed in 1988 during the Spitak earthquake - an abnormal pre-emergency situation arose in the operation of the NPP, the personnel left the NPP, and only by a miracle did they manage to avoid a catastrophe. At the request of their own, the Armenian public, the operation of the nuclear power plant was suspended. And only after Armenia gained independence, in November 1995, the 2nd power unit of the ANPP, which had been mothballed for more than 6 years, was again put into explantation.

But the resumed operation of the Metsamor nuclear power plant was initially assumed to be "temporary" and, by the Armenian authorities themselves, back in 2006, it was announced that the operation of the Armenian nuclear power plant would end in 10 years. Those. back in 2016, the Metsamor nuclear power plant should be shut down according to the Armenian authorities' original plans. However, in 2013, contrary to all the assessments of the IAEA specialists, who demanded the immediate withdrawal from explantation of the Metsamor NPP, the Ministry of Energy of Armenia decided to extend its use until 2026. On May 5, 2015, the Armenian parliament ratified a $ 270 million Russian loan for this purpose. By the way, all the credit money has not yet been allocated, since the Russian "Rosatom" quite reasonably suspects the misuse of a significant part of the already provided 200 million loans, which was largely banally plundered and even the minimum necessary measures to ensure safety at the NPP were simply not taken...

However, the danger of an accident at the hopelessly outdated Metsamor NPP is not the only problem. An even bigger problem is the unauthorized leakage of nuclear materials from nuclear power plants, including abroad. Radioactive contraband from Armenia is regularly detained in Georgia. So in March 2019, two people were detained in Kobuleti who were trying to sell radioactive uranium for more than 2 million euros. Four months later, an Armenian citizen was detained at the Sadakhlo checkpoint on the Georgian-Armenian border, who tried to transport the radioactive isotope thorium-232 from Armenia to Russia through Georgia. And on April 16, 2021, the State Security Service of Georgia detained two people for attempting to sell a radioactive substance. The detainees intended to sell a container with americium-241 (an isotope of americium) to Kutaisi for 300,000 euros.
Radioactive substances from Metsamor go illegally in the direction of Georgia and the direction of Iran. Especially considering the current aggravation of the situation in the Middle East and the conflict between Palestine and Israel.

After all, same Iran supports Palestinian radical groups, including weapons. And what prevents, for example, Iran from supplying radioactive materials to "friendly" groups Hezbollah or Hamas, and so from stuffing them with "dirty" bombs and missiles? Proceeding from such a very real danger, the source of the nuclear threat on the territory of Armenia should be immediately taken under international control.

Of course, there can be no talk of any extension of the operation of the Metsamor NPP. Nevertheless, on May 15, 2021, a key scheduled preventive maintenance started at the Armenian NPP as part of a project to modernize and extend the life of the plant. The plant is now shut down for 141 days - this is an unprecedented period after the resumption of explantation of the nuclear power plant in 1995. Such a long shutdown is associated with “the final important work on the modernization of the second power unit of the Armenian nuclear power plant,” the press service of the nuclear power plant reported.

“120 Russian specialists have already arrived at the station to carry out the work. Over the entire period of repairs this year, about 350 nuclear scientists from Russia will be involved, ”says Yuri Sviridenko, head of the project to extend the life of the Armenian NPP from the Russian side.

As the chief engineer of the Armenian NPP Artur Grigoryan noted, it took a year to prepare for the scheduled repair. However, in reality, apparently, the state of the nuclear power plant is so emergency and critical that it is simply impossible to quickly organize preparation for repair and carry out all the necessary work in a short time. The Metsamor NPP simply cannot be repaired and modernized, no matter what qualified specialists do it - the state of the NPP is getting worse every day and the probability of an accident only increases.

The international community must do everything to prevent the Metsamor NPP from resuming its work at all. The current "repair" will not give anything from the point of view of the catastrophic state of the station and the point of view of safety. And given the transcendental corruption in Armenia in the areas related to nuclear energy and the fact that the internal situation in the country is generally unstable and terrorists like Zhirayr Sefilyan and his "Sasna Tsrer" feel at ease there - the situation is simply catastrophically dangerous. The Metsamor nuclear power plant may at any moment be under the control of terrorists, and they may well organize "nuclear blackmail" of the entire region.

KavkazPlus