U.S. companies involved in studies on construction of new NPP in Armenia

YEREVAN, April 26. /ARKA/. Feasibility studies are underway as part of a plan to build a new nuclear power unit in Armenia, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Hakob Vardanyan stated in an interview with “Armenpress”.
According to him, U.S. companies are also involved in this process. At the same time, he noted that cooperation between Armenia and Russia continues on a number of directions in the field of energy.
“Cooperation with any state is not and cannot be considered to the detriment of another state,” the deputy minister said.
Regarding the capacity of the future NPP and its type, Vardanyan noted that technical and economic studies are currently underway to understand which technology and power plant of what capacity will be the most efficient and economically beneficial in the case of Armenia.
The Armenian nuclear power plant, the only one in the South Caucasus region, is located near the town of Metsamor, about 30 kilometers west of Yerevan. It accounts for about 40% of the country’s electricity generation.
The government has already extended the facility’s lifespan by ten years until 2026 after a major modernization and technical upgrade.
Armenian authorities want to build a new nuclear power plant with a capacity of about 1000-1200 MW. Several options are being considered – either construction of a power unit with a capacity of about 1000 or 1200 MW, or two units of 1000 MW each.
Tentatively, the new NPP will be built on the territory adjacent to the existing NPP (about 80 hectares) and will allow using part of the existing infrastructure.-0-