Armenia's nuclear power plant resumes operations after lightning strike

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Armenia's only nuclear power plant, which was shut down on Friday for safety reasons after a lightning strike, has been reconnected to the grid and will soon resume full operation, the Interfax news agency reported on Saturday, citing local authorities.

There was a power outage in several districts of the capital Yerevan and some other regions following the incident late Friday, Interfax reported.

The power plant was hit and disconnected from the grid at 9:55 p.m. (17:55 GMT) on Friday, Interfax quoted the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure as saying.

“The reason (for the shutdown) was a lightning strike, which caused the station's safety systems to enter safe shutdown mode,” it said.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by William Mallard and Gareth Jones)