An Azerbaijani MP is circulating a motion at the Council of Europe, calling for the closure of the Armenian nuclear power station.
Rafael Huseynov distributed the document on Monday, the first day of the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
The document, entitled "Metsamor - a threat to the life, present and future of Europe", has been signed by some 30 MPs from 20 countries, including the UK, France, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Serbia, San Marino and Andorra.
Huseynov said that the problems of the Metsamor nuclear plant had become more pressing after the tsunami in Japan and explosion at the Fukushima plant. To date, PACE has prepared four documents on the closure of Metsamor.
"From the very beginning of our activity in PACE we have constantly paid attention to the environmental problems that are the worst aspect of the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan. We have repeatedly raised the issue of curbing the anti-humanitarian activities of Armenia, which is burying nuclear waste from Metsamor in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, or pouring it into rivers flowing into Azerbaijan.
"In fact, the very decision to build Metsamor nuclear power plant in a seismically active zone was illegal, but it was possible through the efforts of an Armenian, Andranik Petrosyan, who was then working as chairman of the USSR Atomic Energy Committee," Huseynov said.
"The Metsamor plant, built in 1970, has become a threat, not only because of its location in a seismically active zone, but also because first-generation VVER reactors [Soviet pressurized water reactors] are installed there, which are not used in modern nuclear power plants. The work of the plant was suspended after the devastating Spitak earthquake, but in 1995, despite international protests, the station was reactivated, and in addition, a second reactor was launched.
"Despite the fact that the EU demanded the immediate closure of the station by 2011 and declared its readiness to assign EUR 100 million to Armenia to cover its energy needs, the country has not agreed to this. Armenia does not hide that it intends to use Metsamor until 2016 and, in the longer term, even until 2031. Given the large number of minor earthquakes in the past 10 years in this area, as well as the intensification of seismic processes indicated by seismologist research, a major accident at Metsamor would seriously affect not only Armenia, but all countries in the Southern Caucasus and the Middle East," the document says.
It also notes that PACE should take practical steps on the issue.
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