But for this tiny republic perched high in the Caucasus mountains, closing down the station is not so easy: without the electricity it generates, officials here say, the lights will go out all over the country.

The disagreement is likely to come to a head in the coming months as the EU's 2004 deadline for decommissioning the reactor looms and Armenia shows no sign of being ready, or even wanting, to comply.

Armenia signed an agreement with the EU back in April 1996 to close Metzamor by 2004, said Timothy Marschall Jones, British ambassador to Armenia and currently the EU's ranking representative in the country.

"We want Armenia to respect its commitments," he said. "There remains a catastrophic risk associated with the plant. ...If a suitably large earthquake hit (the station) in the right way then it could fall apart."

Not so, say Armenian energy officials. Deputy Energy Minister Areg Galstyan said the station has been specially designed to be earthquake resistant.

That was proven in the devastating 1988 earthquake which hit the nearby city of Spitak, he said. "During the Spitak earthquake the block survived, there were no problems, it continued to work."

Ultimately, though, the issue for Armenians is not whether Metzamor is safe -- they have accepted that it will have to close sooner or later. For them, the question is how will they manage without a nuclear power station which generates 40 percent of the country's electricity.

After the Spitak quake, the government bowed to popular concerns about safety and closed both Metzamor's reactors. But in 1995 they switched one of the reactors back on in response to public fury about power shortages.

Galstyan shudders at the memory. "We had only three to four hours of electricity a day and industry was falling apart," he said. "By 1995, we had to decide: do we want to live or die."

Of course, none of it is that simple. As Ambassador Jones points out and Galstyan admits, Armenia does have an alternative source of power: gas.

Armenia already generates 40 percent of its electricity from gas-powered fire stations and has the capacity -- with investment in refurbishing gas power stations -- to fill the gap left by Metzamor's closure.

Closure Of Lithuania Nuclear Plant Will Cost 3 Billion Euros Vilnius (AFP) Mar 6, 2002 - The complete closure of Lithuania's Chernobyl-designed nuclear power plant would cost 2.2 billion euros (1.9 billlion dollars) by 2020 and could reach three billion euros over a longer period, according to a study released Wednesday by the economy ministry. The study, based on a presumption that the first of two units at Ignalina will be closed by 2005 and that the complete closure would occur in 2009, was distributed at the Lithuanian parliament. MPs are to start discussing a date for shutting down the plant. Lithuania promised to close the first of the two units by 2005. The European Union is demanding the complete Ignalina closure by 2009 if Lithuania wants to conclude talks this year and join the EU in 2004. The government is expected to propose a shutdowm date to Parliament, which has the final say on the matter. But Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus recently urged the government not to give in to EU pressure and not to hurry with obligations on exact terms of Ignalina closure. "We must talk about the conditions of the closure and funding. When we take an obligation to close the reactors we must be sure to be able to do it," Adamkus said at a briefing Wednesday. The EU considers the design of Ignalina's Soviet-built RBMK reactors unsafe despite some 250 million euros having been spent over improving their security during the past decade.

The catch for Armenia, which has no fossil fuels of its own and is under economic blockade from its neighbours Azerbaijan and Turkey, is that all the gas has to be imported via a pipeline from Russia.

Fine, when it works. But the pipeline snakes through tough neighbourhoods like Chechnya and Georgia, where ethnic Azeris have in the past sabotaged it out of historic hatred for Armenia.

In contrast, one plane from Moscow to Yerevan can bring enough fuel rods to keep Metzamor working for six months.

Galstyan said: "We are ready to close the atomic energy station in 2004 but we will do it if we have alternative, safe energy sources."

"If we close it in 2004 then we will cover only 20 percent of electricity needs (from hydro-electric power) and the rest we will have to generate with gas from Russia and that is not good for our energy security."

A gas pipeline from Armenia's neighbour to the south, Iran, is held up as the solution. But is has been on the drawing board for years and a date for the start of construction has not been set.

The real problem, western observers say privately, is not energy security but a lack of will on the part of Armenia's rulers.

Hakob Sanasaryan, President of the Greens' Union of Armenia, agrees. "If they wanted to they could do something by 2004. Most of the time they just talk and talk and that is where it ends."

In the meantime, Armenia's energy officials hint at a desire to build a brand new nuclear power station to replace Metzamor.

"It would be better to have a new nuclear block because who wants to have an old one," mused Galstyan. But he quickly back-tracked. "Of course, we are not raising that question."

All rights reserved. � 2002 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

Related Links
Black Sea Energy Review - Armenia
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only