American Government hard at work stopping U.S. n-plant exports

ITAR-TASS News Agency ^ | 3May2006 | TASS

[sefarkas]

YEREVAN, May 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Armenia will build a new nuclear power plant with the capacity of 1,000 megawatt, Finance and Economy Minister Vartan Khachatrian said on Tuesday, after the 12th meeting of the Armenian-U.S. economic cooperation group.

He said the new power plant will replace the old one with the capacity of 440 megawatt.

The United States objects to building a new nuclear power plant in Armenia for safety reasons, as the country is located in a seismically active zone, U.S. coordinator for Europe and Eurasia Thomas Adams said.

Not a single American company will agree to build a new nuclear power plant in Armenia, he added.

In the opinion of Adams, Armenia should find alternative ways for energy security, and the United States will give it technical and consultative assistance.

The group was set up in 2000. It meets twice a year in Yerevan and Washington.

[sefarkas]

Any explanation about why the U.S. government agency would declare, based on seismic risk, that no American company will build a nuclear power plant in Armenia?