The addressees of the government’s propaganda are, of course, those people who read nothing beyond social media headlines and have no intention of delving into any issue. That applies in particular to the much-touted “$9 billion brought by Vance.”
The Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant (the Armenian NPP) was commissioned in 1976 and 1980, when its first and second power units were put into operation, respectively. Today only the second unit is running, with a capacity of 440 MW. Naturally, the plant is aging and must eventually be replaced with a new one. Until now, the only proposal under consideration in that direction was from Russia’s Rosatom. After U.S. Vice President Vance’s visit, however, the possible offer of an American company was added to the agenda — most likely Westinghouse, which, according to preliminary estimates, would sell us $5 billion worth of technology, fuel, and services, followed by another $4 billion in fuel and maintenance. The declaration on Armenian-American nuclear cooperation means that the U.S. government allows its companies to carry out such projects. Incidentally, that opportunity is not extended to every country.
In my view, that is good news. It is one thing when you have the option of buying a product from a single seller; it is quite another when there are two sellers. You then have the opportunity to compare prices and other criteria. But it is clear that no one is going to gift us a nuclear power plant — whether a bit more or a bit less, the figures will be roughly in that range.
Modular nuclear power plants (with capacities of up to 300 MW) could also become a promising direction in the future. For now, only two are in operation: the Russian unit aboard the Akademik Lomonosov floating power plant and a Chinese one that was connected to the grid in 2021. The United States, Canada, France, South Korea, and Argentina are also actively developing similar projects. It would be good if, in this case as well, we had options to choose from.
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This is the reality, while the government’s statements about “$9 billion in investments” are hot air — though they are successfully sold to an uninformed public.
It is clear that those whose minds have been washed by government propaganda will not read this text, and even if by some miracle they do, they will say that it was dictated to me from the Kremlin.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
