A lightning strike caused an emergency shutdown of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant, Interfax reports.
“On August 30 at 21:55, the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant was disconnected from the power grid in emergency shutdown mode. The cause was a lightning strike, as a result of which the plant’s safety systems switched it to safe shutdown mode,” the press service of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia reported.
The station’s staff is currently busy restarting it.
Earlier, the Electric Networks of Armenia company reported that due to the withdrawal of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant from the electric power system, the automation of the Shahumyan-2 substation was turned off, as a result of which a number of administrative districts of Yerevan, Echmiadzin, and Armavir regions were de-energized.
The Armenian NPP is one of the main sources of electricity in the country. The station operates a single unit (with a first-generation WWER-440 reactor), fuel for which is supplied by TVEL.