Azeri PM urges world to aid shutdown of Armenia’s nuclear plant
BAKU – Azerbaijani Prime Minister Artur Rasizada has called on the world community to assist in shutting down Armenia’s obsolete Metsamor nuclear power plant that is located in a seismic zone.
Addressing a conference in Kyiv on Tuesday, marking 25 years since the world's worst nuclear accident in Chernobyl, Ukraine, Rasizada said that the power plant in Armenia, which has been hit by devastating earthquakes in the past, poses a serious threat to neighboring Turkey, Iran, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Rasizada said that Azerbaijan has always stood by Ukraine, including the times of the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe. He stressed that 8,000 Azerbaijanis were involved in the removal of the consequences of the catastrophe.
World powers, spurred by the nuclear crisis in Japan, pledged 550 million euros at Tuesday’s conference to help build a new containment shell at the site of the Chernobyl accident.
Ukraine had hoped for 740 million euros from governments and international organizations.
Officials at the conference were optimistic more funds would still be found to make the Chernobyl site safe.
The Kyiv conference was attended by 17 leaders and heads of government.
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