Another Nuclear Accident Waiting to Happen in Armenia

17 May 2011 12:30 | 681

As the political and radioactive fallout of Japan’s Fukushima meltdown spreads, serious regional concerns over the safety of Armenia’s aging Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant continue to mount. Not only does the plant lie on a physical fault line, but it is also located in a politically unstable neighborhood, intersected by ethnic and sectarian divisions, especially with Azerbaijan and Turkey, the latter two being at loggerheads with Armenia over political, territorial, and valid environmental safety issues.

One only has to look at the history of the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant to understand that it is basically an accident waiting to happen. Following the earthquake in the Armenian city of Spitak in 1988, which measured 6.9 on the Richter scale and killed over 25,000 people,[1] Soviet officials decided to shut down the plant. However, a highly effective economic blockade imposed by Azerbaijan and Turkey in response to the illegal occupation of the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenian troops created conditions which led to the reopening of the plant seven years later, despite expert advice that it should remain deactivated.

The Soviet-built nuclear power plant is not considered safe enough by Western governments either, according to a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty report.[6] Also, there has been considerable public controversy – sometimes even hysteria – lately over the use of nuclear energy and the nuclear industry has a contentious track record.

Armenia’s neighbors cannot now assume that the once all-pervading anti-nuclear logic can be used as an unassailable argument against the Metsamor plant.

International experts continue to voice safety concerns over the Metsamor nuclear plant.

Eduard Shevardnadze, former president of Georgia, has urged his country’s authorities to negotiate with Armenia on the safety of the plant. "Reports about the Armenian NPP’s condition raise serious concerns. The Armenian NPP turned out to be in the most deplorable condition and there are not any safety guarantees, what threatens the entire region," reports PanArmenian.[7] Up until now, however, it appears that the threat of nuclear disaster and the damage this potential threat is inflicting to its international relations are prices the Armenian government considers worth paying to avoid losing face with their domestic consumers and international lobby.

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