The reason for the shutdown of the Armenian nuclear power plant was a lightning strike, NEWS.am reports with reference to the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of the republic. After that, the station was transferred to safe shutdown mode. The nuclear power plant employees are restarting it.
As a result of the shutdown of the nuclear power plant, a failure occurred at the Shaumyan-2 substation, which caused a power outage in several districts of Yerevan, as well as in Armavir and Etchmiadzin regions, the Electric Grids of Armenia company reported.
Power was restored in Yerevan and Armavir after about 15 minutes, and then in Etchmiadzin, they said.
The Armenian nuclear power plant was built in 1969-1977 and is located near the town of Metsamor (about 30 km west of Yerevan). The station operates two power units with VVER-440 reactors. The complex is managed in collaboration with Rosatom.
This is the only operating nuclear power plant in the South Caucasus, providing up to 40% of Armenia’s total electricity generation, RBC notes.
