Safety Violations at Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant Remain Unresolved: Clarification

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed the explosion in the vicinity of the Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant during the Cabinet meeting on September 12, asking for clarification regarding what actions the inspection authority had taken prior to the explosion.

Petros Martirosyan, head of the Coordination Office of the Inspection Authorities within the Prime Minister's Office, explained that the inspection authority conducts checks in two ways: planned inspections, based on a risk assessment methodology developed annually, and unplanned inspections in response to applications and complaints, meaning when an operator wants to obtain the final act for their constructed facility and commence operations.

“In this specific case, there were two inspections. The mentioned operator was not registered in the registry of hazardous production facilities, and several other issues were recorded, particularly that an automatic fire system had not been installed. The operator applied to receive a final act-conclusion. We went, examined, and recorded several violations, and positive conclusions were denied twice, meaning safety violations were present, and these had not been rectified,” he stated, adding that the conclusion noted that without correcting these violations, they could not receive operational permits and could not operate the foundry.

It is important to recall that on September 10, at 16:59, an alert was received regarding an explosion at the foundry within the Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant area, resulting in injuries to six workers, one of whom died.

Hours after the incident, the State Inspection Agency released a statement informing that the illegally operated facility located in the Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant area had been provided two negative conclusions.