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Azerbaijani President: Metsamor atomic electric station is a potential source of disaster for the region and close neighbors

28 March 2012 19:12 (UTC +04:00)

Ilham Aliev thanked the President of the Republic of Korea for hosting this important event and Azerbaijan sent an invitation to take part in the summit: "Azerbaijan considers the important role played by the International Atomic Energy Agency in the establishment of norms and standards to ensure nuclear safety. Our country has established a successful cooperation with the agency on various aspects of nuclear safety. We intend to further expand the existing successful partnership through the State Agency for Regulation of nuclear and radiological activities, established by us in 2008. Given the threat of nuclear proliferation and our geographic location, Azerbaijan attaches great importance to the prevention of cases of use of its territory as a transit route for nuclear smuggling. Working closely with international organizations, Azerbaijan, through high standards based on sound legal framework has created an effective system of export controls. This system justifies itself as a reliable mechanism to prevent nuclear smugglingâ€ , - Head of State said.

â€Unfortunately, due to the continuing occupation of neighboring Armenia, 20 percent of our land there is no control over the 130 miles of our internationally recognized southern boundary and a large part of our border with Armenia. As a result of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, these territories for 20 years under Armenian occupation. In these areas of Armenia held a policy of ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis. Armenia ignores the four UN Security Council resolution calling for the unconditional and immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces from the territory of Azerbaijanâ€, - Ilham Aliyev said.

Azerbaijani President emphasized that considering the geographical conditions and potential transboundary environmental effects, Azerbaijan fully supports efforts to strengthen safety and security of civilian nuclear facilities. â€œYou should be very serious consideration to the terrible accident that occurred recently in the nuclear power plant in Fukushima in the tsunami. Azerbaijan is extremely concerned about the activities of the Metsamor nuclear power plant in Armenia, which became operational in 1976 and is now outdated. Metsamor station is a potential source of disaster for the region and nearby neighbors. It is located in a highly seismic zone, where the lack of water needed to cool the living out its last years of the reactor. The European Union recognized the Metsamor reactor "the most outdated and unreliable" of 66 Soviet reactors built in Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union. The report Metsamor called "a threat to the entire region", - he said.

â€However, we propose to use modes of establishing a regional nuclear safety and reliability and providing the authority of the party seeking to build nuclear power plant. In this case, may be provided for such procedures as obtaining consent from his neighbors, a transparent exchange of information on safety and security of these areas, receiving inspections and compensation for risk. In an effort to further strengthen international understanding and cooperation in the framework of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism and the Body of Principles, to which Azerbaijan, we have during the presidency of the UN Security Council in May this year, plan to hold high-level discussions. This will be resembling an opportunity for discussions on such broad issues as anti-terrorism, including the fight against nuclear terrorism", - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.