Pashinyan and Rosatom CEO Discussed Construction of New Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia

YEREVAN — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and CEO of Russian state atomic agency Rosatom Alexei Likhachev discussed today in Yerevan a set of issues relating to the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Armenia, the Armenian government reported.

Prime Minister Pashinyan was quoted as saying by the government that the Armenian-Russian cooperation in the energy area has a rich agenda and that Rosatom is the main partner of the Armenian government in the area of nuclear energy.

The Prime Minister highly appreciated the corporation’s role in extending the service life of the second power unit of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant.

Likhachev thanked for the close cooperation and said that Rosatom is interested in further fruitful cooperation with the Armenian government.

In late June Armenian and Russian specialists discussed the design of a new nuclear power unit that is to be built in Armenia.

The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant said the experts considered a variant of the power unit VVER (water-water power reactor). This type of unit is being run by the ANPP now, but the new unit is to be about three times larger in power (the operating power unit of the NPP is 430-440 MW, while the new power unit is to be 1000-1,300 MW).

The Armenian NPP is located some 30 kilometers west of Yerevan. It was built in the 1970s but was closed following a devastating earthquake in 1988. One of its two VVER 440-V230 light-water reactors was reactivated in 1995.

In March 2014, the Armenian government decided to extend the plant’s service life up to 2026. The service life extension was financed by a $270 million Russian loan and a $30 million grant. The plant generates up to 40% of all electric power in Armenia.