The magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011 resulting in severe accident in the Fukushima NPP. The European Commission (EC) together with the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) launched in 2011 a comprehensive risk and safety re-assessments of all EU NPPs (hereinafter referred to as “stress tests”).
At the EU request the Republic of Armenia confirmed its willingness to joint on a voluntary basis the comprehensive risk and safety assessments (“stress tests”) initiative.
Thus, on August 2015 the Armenian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ANRA), based on the Armenian NPP self-assessment report, submitted the National Report on Stress Test for Armenian Nuclear Power Plant, developed in accordance with the technical specifications of the ENSREG (agreed with the EC on May 24 2015), to the Directorate-General for Energy of the European Commission for peer review.
As a result of the EC review 196 questions were posed to the national report. The answers to the questions were prepared by the experts of ANPP, ANRA and “Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center” CJSC, who earlier participated in the development the national report.
The ANRA hosted the EC mission for the peer review of the National Report on Stress Test for Armenian Nuclear Power Plant at its headquarters in Yerevan from 20 to 24 June 2016.
The EC peer review team (PRT) composed of 10 EU experts (8 from EU Member states who had been nominated by the ENSREG members and 2 from the European Commission).
In accordance with the PRT mission agenda on June 22, 2016 the EC experts visited the Armenian NPP.
At the PRT request the ANRA organized a seminar dedicated to the seismic and volcanology hazard related issues of the territory. The experts from the Institute of Geological Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences of the RA, “Georisk” Scientific research center and the Armenian Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth presented the results of the researches made in the mentioned areas.
The recommendation of the EC experts to the Armenian NPP “stress test” were summarized a PRT report, the final version of which will be submitted to the ANRA in August 2016.
Based on the PRT report it is planned to develop the action plan which will be aimed at strengthening the nuclear safety of the Armenian NPP in line with the European requirements.
