According to the Prime Minister’s official report on the meeting, the two sides “discussed issues related to the work on extending the operating life of the second power unit of the Armenian NPP and the proposals of the Russian side on the construction of a new nuclear power unit in our country”.
Russia’s state nuclear corporation’s in-house publication Strana Rosatom reported that Likhachev said that most of the work planned for the period up to 2031 relating to the life extension to 2036 has already been completed.
It added that “the Armenian side is also exploring the possibility of further extending the unit’s operation – from 2036 to 2046”.
According to the head of Rosatom, it reported, “this is technically feasible, but will require significant investment in upgrading safety and automation systems, re-annealing the reactor vessel, and expanding and repairing spent nuclear fuel storage facilities. The investment could reach hundreds of millions of dollars”.
New nuclear capacity
Armenia’s prime minister said the government was in discussions about “proposals received from international partners on the construction of a new nuclear power unit and a decision will be made in the near future” and he “emphasised that the final decision will be of an exclusively economic nature, taking into account the price, quality, safety, deadlines and guarantees”.
The prime minister’s official account of the meeting added that Likhachev “presented details on the proposals and possible mechanisms for the construction of a new NPP, as well as small and medium-capacity power units”.
According to Strana Rosatom, Likhachev explained: “We made a specific proposal to the Armenian government for a 1,000-watt unit based on our flagship VVER-1000 design. These are the VVERs we are replicating domestically; these are the VVERs we built and continue to build in India and Iran. They combine extremely high economic efficiency, namely low electricity costs, with all the necessary Generation III+ safety systems.”
Background
Armenia currently operates one nuclear reactor – a 376 MWe VVER reactor at the Armenia Nuclear Power plant, which started operating in 1980. The plant was home to two units, which were taken offline in 1988 due to safety concerns regarding seismic vulnerability. Unit 2 was restarted in 1995, and Rosatom is currently collaborating in a project to extend the unit’s life to 2036. Unit 1 is now being decommissioned.
Armenia has been considering the potential construction of new nuclear capacity for some time. In January 2022, Rosatom and the management of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant signed an agreement to look into the possible building of new Russian-designed nuclear power units on the site of the current plant at Metsamor.
Earlier this year Armenia’s Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure David Khudatyan, speaking at a press conference, said Armenia was reviewing proposed “modular nuclear reactor” models from Russia, the USA, France, China, and South Korea, according to the Armenpress news agency.
In February Pashinyan and US Vice President JD Vance signed a joint statement on the completion of negotiations on the Agreement on Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Government of the United States of America in the Field of Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy during Vance’s visit to Armenia. That agreement would enable US and Armenian companies to “strike deals” on civil nuclear projects, Vance said.
