The Armenian nuclear power plant in Metsamor was brought to a 65-day halt for a regular preventive repair, the plant said in a press release on 2 July.
The outage is part of a programme to modernise and extend the service life of the VVER-440 reactor and increase its efficiency and reliability.
Plant director Movses Vardanyan said that the plant's information and computer system would also be upgraded during the outage.
The Armenian nuclear plant was built in the 1970s but was closed following a devastating earthquake in 1988. One of its two VVER 440-V230 reactors was reactivated in 1995.
In March 2014, Armenian government decided to extend the Amenian nuclear power plant’s service life to 2026 because of delay in building a new unit.
The life extension was supported by Russia with a loan of $270 million and $30 million as a grant. However, in early June 2020 the Armenian government decided to use only 60% of the loan. Territorial and Infrastructure Minister Suren Papikyan said the government will raise the remaining $130 million through government bond sales.
