Minister: Metsamor nuclear power plant threatens Turkey's security

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

Armenian Metsamor nuclear power plant (NPP) should be shut down as the world cannot risk another disaster like Chernobyl, Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak said on September 26, Anadolu agency reports.

"Even if each country took the necessary precautions about its own nuclear power plant, we cannot ignore the threats at the borders. Therefore, we have to act together towards potential threats. In that regard, the Metsamor nuclear power plant should be shut down," he stressed at the 60th general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

Albayrak further noted that the international community should pay more attention to this threat.

The construction of the Metsamor NPP began in 1970. After the devastating earthquake of 1988 in the town of Spitak, it was closed; but in 1995, despite numerous international protests, the Armenian government renewed the operation of the NPP – moreover, the second reactor was launched.

The European Union insisted on closing the NPP offering 200 million Euro. Despite this, the NPP is still functioning as no alternative sources of energy exist in Armenia.

Many international ecologists and scientists also keep noting that the seismic activity of the area makes the operation of the nuclear power station in Metsamor an extremely dangerous enterprise.

Recently, the NPP suspended its operation for two months as the renovation works are undergoing there from September 20 to November 20.