Medzamor, Armenia — Like the controversial "not-guilty" verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial, arguments are likely to continue for months over the safety of restarting Armenia's nuclear power station.
This, despite the trouble-free performance of the reactor until its shutdown in February 1989, and years of meticulous refurbishment, safety and seismic upgrades that preceded the reopening of the facility.
The second energy bloc of the power station was reactivated October 27. As an extra precaution, it will initially operate at only 35 percent of its actual capacity and gradually increase production in the months ahead.
Repair work on the first, or number one energy bloc will begin sometime next year and take several years to complete before it too can be reactivated.
"I understand the objections from some governmental quarters outside Armenia, but I don't understand why Diaspora Armenians are afraid.
"Do they think we are out to commit suicide or gamble with Armenia's future and the lives of millions of people," the station's director Suren G. Azatian said during a recent exclusive interview and tour of the massive facility, 20 miles north of Yerevan.
"Do they think that we don't care," he said.
Azatian, who has 27 years of experience in the field of nuclear energy, is not only confident that the power station is safe, but is ready to challenge anyone who thinks otherwise.
What has Armenia done to give the power station a clean bill of health and the seal of safety?
As soon as a decision was made to reopen the facility, Armenia enlisted the help of Russian engineers — a significant arrangement to the safe restart of Unit 2, particularly since the reactor is Russian- designed and constructed.
What did they do?
Because of Armenia's earthquake prone nature, priority was given to the careful analysis of the soil mass under the facility. Italian experts were called in to make seismic evaluations in six different locations in and around the immediate vicinity of the reactor — digging test holes 50 meters deep into the ground.
"We also fine-tuned, tested — and tested over and over again — the electronic sensors which are designed to shut off the reactor in the event of an earthquake," Azatian said.
This was coupled with the inch by inch examination of not only the reactor itself but also the power turbines that generate the electricity, the cooling systems, auxiliary power facilities, backup units, and more importantly the bolts inside the reactor's pressure vessel which holds the fuel along with the control facilities down to the last fuse.
"Every millimeter of wiring was checked and verified. More than 5,000 tons of equipment were replaced, along with 60 kilometers of cables and hundreds of meters of pipes and joints. We spared no effort.
"What we have done in the last few years here is not cosmetic. While Medzamor is a Russian-designed and manufactured nuclear power station, most of its parts today are made in the United States, France or Germany," Azatian said.
He said the Medzamor nuclear power station was initially designed to shut off automatically in the event of an earthquake measuring six points on the Richter scale and recent changes guarantee the fool-proof performance of the safety equipment.
"The old facility did not stop by itself at the time of the 1988 earthquake, which means the ripple effect of the earthquake around the reactor must have been considerably less than six points.
"According to available surveys, by Armenian and foreign engineers, the structure was not damaged — not even slightly. In fact, it continued to operate safely until the government decided to shut it off — under political pressure from the people," he said.
But like everything else which is kept idle and out of commission for any length of time, major changes were needed at the Medzamor power station before reactivating.
Previous safety standards were reevaluated and new guidelines were drawn with the direct help and advice of foreign experts. One such guideline calls for the replacement of old-generation computers in the next few years.
In all, forty teams of international experts from around the world have checked out the power station since repair work began two and a half years ago.
"We have been scrutinized more than once by experts from the United States, Britain, and France along with Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency. I cannot think of any other nuclear power station in the world which has faced this much scrutiny," Azatian said.
Azatian is sure that the facility is safe, and vehemently denies rumors about a crack "on the lid or the main wall of the reactor" — a rumor which triggered yet another round of checks of the facility in October.
"No one mentions the fact that the nuclear power station functioned without any problems for ten years before the government shut it down in early 1989. And no one says anything about that fact that this facility survived the December 1988 earthquake without any structural damage," Azatian said during a tour of the top-security facility.
"The two reactors of the nuclear power station were shut down for political and not technical and safety reasons, and politics should now be kept out of the reactivating process," he said.
But while politics is unavoidable, more stable sources of energy have made the decision-making process less vulnerable to internal and external pressures and factors.
"The country is getting some supplies of gas and oil from outside, and the Azerbaijani blockade is less effective than what it was a few years ago. Therefore the nuclear power station, while very important for the Armenian economy, is not as essential as it was at the height of the blockade," one western analyst said.
It was this change of factors on the ground that allowed the Armenian authorities to take their time in going over the reactor's every screw and bolt at a cost of more than 80 million dollars — given by the Russian government in the form of a long-term loan.
"We tore up everything, including the insulation on all the pipes to make sure that all joints at soldered parts were in perfect shape. Thousands of components were tested over and over again — and by different people to make sure there were no errors in the results," Azatian said.
"As an extra precaution, the reactor will initially operate at much less than half its designed capacity, and reach its production peak in the months ahead," he said.
But sometimes nothing is good enough for the skeptics.
"There will always be those who would say: What if something goes wrong? How are you going to warn people in the event of an accident?
"Our answer is: Why should anything go wrong when dozens of devoted experts, technicians and scientists are keeping a very close eye on every component of the reactor, and when man and machine are constantly supervising and checking what the other is doing," Azatian said.
