[Documents/Docheader.htm]The situation over the Metsamor atomic station in Armenia
Doc. 10223
21 June 2004Written question No 446 to the Committee of Ministers
presented by Mr R. Huseynov
In contrary to the principles of the Council of Europe, while occupying 20% of Azerbaijani lands, the Republic of Armenia through its policy has also created an environmental threat to the region of the South Caucasus, including the neighbouring countries.
The question is about the Metsamor atomic-electric station’s reactor established in Soviet times. To date, this type of reactor is not used in any developed country and the duration of maintenance of generators in Metsamor has expired. It is not coincidence that for the last three years there were breakdowns making this station to suspend its functioning.
If one takes account that the Metsamor is located in a seismic active zone and the number of earthquakes has increased over the last years then the necessity to stop the station’s functioning is more than evident. Facing this continuity of accidents even one low earthquake is a dangerous signal for Metsamor and in this regard the devastating Spitak (Armenia) earthquake of 1988 should not be forgotten.
In this light the international community repeatedly appealed to Armenia to stop the functioning of this station. Even the European Union made several suggestions, but Armenia has not demonstrated the constructive approach to this end. As a result, the European Union had to apply recently a kind of sanction refusing to allocate 100 million US$ aimed at suspension of Metsamor.
From day to day, the risk of accident in Metsamor is increasing and if such a tragedy happens it inevitably would affect Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and neighbouring regions. If we see our task of not just taking note of the developments but rather in undertaking preventive actions then relevant measures should be carried out to this end.
Given these facts, Mr Rafael Huseynov asks the Committee of Ministers:
Does the Committee of Ministers accept the seriousness of the present situation over the Metsamor station and could the Committee address this matter to the Armenian authorities in order to prevent the second “Chernobyl” in the Southern Caucasus.
Signed [1]:
HUSEYNOV Rafael, Azerbaijan, LDR
SOC
EPP
EDG
LDR
UEL
NRSocialist Group
Group of the European People’s Party
European Democratic Group
Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group
Group of the Unified European Left
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