Azatutyun.am. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has formed a working group tasked with fleshing out his government’s ambitious plans to build a new nuclear power station in Armenia.
The ad hoc body will specifically explore the possibility of replacing the aging Metsamor nuclear plant by small modular reactors (SMRs) designed by U.S. companies.
Metsamor’s sole functioning reactor, which generates roughly 40 percent of Armenia’s electricity, went into service in 1980 and is due to be decommissioned in 2036. The Armenian government announced in April 2022 plans to build a new nuclear plant by that time.
The chief executive of Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom, which has helped to modernize Metsamor’s 420-megawatt reactor, visited Yerevan twice in the following weeks to discuss the project with Pashinian.
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The United States has also shown an interest in the project, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan signing in May 2022 a memorandum of understanding on “strategic nuclear cooperation” between their countries. A senior State Department official said last month that Washington is “assessing the feasibility” of the construction of an SMR plant in Armenia. She said the US technology could make the South Caucasus nation less dependent on Russia for energy.
Pashinian announced afterwards that an Armenian government delegation will visit the U.S. soon to take a close look at the SMRs. He suggested that they could be more affordable for Armenia than the much more powerful nuclear facilities built by Russia.
It is not yet clear whether the delegation will consist of members of the interagency task force set up by Pashinian on Tuesday. According to a relevant executive order signed by him, it must analyze various options for building the new facility, including the SMRs, and submit its findings to the prime minister’s staff within two months.
The 13-member working group headed by Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Hakob Vartanian will comprise deputy ministers of economy, environment and interior as well as other senior government officials.
The U.S. company NuScale Power Corp plans to build America’s first SMR plant at the Idaho National Laboratory by 2030. The demonstration facility will consist of six reactors with a combined capacity of 462 megawatts. The U.S. nuclear power regulator certified the design of NuScale’s reactor in January this year.