By Mark Dovich
The United States has confirmed it is studying a request by Armenia to ink a deal that would allow Washington to transfer civil nuclear technology to Yerevan.
That could pave the way for the United States to design and build a new nuclear power plant in Armenia to replace the country’s aging, Soviet-era facility in the town of Metsamor.
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“The U.S. Government does not share details of the negotiation process, but we can share that the State Department is giving Armenia’s request for a 123 Agreement the proper attention and due consideration,” a State Department spokesperson said in written comments to CivilNet Tuesday.
The spokesperson gave no other details on what they called “the internal process for U.S. government negotiations with other countries,” including a timeline for a final decision.
Under federal law, the U.S. government must sign what are known as Section 123 Agreements before it can export nuclear equipment or materials to other countries. The United States already has such deals with 48 countries and territories, according to a State Department fact sheet last updated in 2022, but those agreements do not cover Armenia.
Negotiations typically stretch on for years. Last year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said one-year nuclear talks with the Philippines marked the “fastest that the United States has ever negotiated this kind of agreement.”
What’s the context?
This marks the first time either Armenia or the United States has publicly confirmed Yerevan is pursuing a Section 123 Agreement with Washington.
Earlier this summer, Armen Grigoryan, the head of Armenia’s influential Security Council, said “the ball is in the United States’ court” on nuclear matters, but did not elaborate.
Later, Deputy Energy Minister Hakob Vardanyan similarly told CivilNet Armenia had asked the United States to deepen their nuclear partnership, though without specifying what type of new arrangement the country was seeking.
Yerevan and Washington already signed a memorandum of understanding on civil nuclear cooperation in 2022. A State Department media note describes that deal as “providing a framework for cooperation,” but crucially, it does not greenlight nuclear exports the way a Section 123 Agreement does.
What’s the background?
Armenia relies heavily on nuclear power. As of now, Metsamor, the country’s sole nuclear power plant, meets some 30% of the country’s total energy needs.
The facility was initially due to be shut down in 2017, but its lifespan has since been extended, and the United Nations’ atomic agency has said as recently as last year that the plant complies with international safety standards.
Metsamor’s operations remain fully dependent on Rosatom, Russia’s state-run nuclear energy corporation. Just last year, the Armenian government signed a $65 million modernization and renovation deal with Rosatom to keep the plant running until 2036. After that, it will have to be decommissioned and replaced.
To that end, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s cabinet moved earlier this month to launch a new state-run company to come up with a strategy to replace Metsamor. The company, which will have an annual budget of more than $2 million, is expected to present its plan within the next two years.
Officials had previously indicated Armenia intends to consider replacement options from China, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.
For his part, Pashinyan has also stressed his commitment to atomic power, saying in March that “for Armenia, nuclear energy plays an essential role and helps us achieve our nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement,” the watershed 2015 treaty aimed at limiting global greenhouse gas emissions.
The latest step in Armenia’s turn West?
Armenia’s request to join a Section 123 Agreement with the United States comes as the country’s relations with Russia, its traditional ally, continue to fray.
Since Armenia’s disastrous defeat to Azerbaijan in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, anger and frustration have mounted in Yerevan over what is seen as Moscow’s unwillingness or inability to honor its treaty obligations.
Meanwhile, Armenia’s ties with the United States have grown substantially, most notably with an agreement earlier this summer to upgrade relations to the level of a Strategic Partnership Commission, a deeper format of cooperation that Washington already has with Georgia and Ukraine, among other countries.
