YEREVAN

The Armenian government is discussing a project to build a new nuclear power plant to reduce the ex-Soviet country’s dependence on imported energy.

The existing nuclear power plant in Metsamor, 30 km from the capital Yerevan, was connected to the unified energy system after a scheduled repair that had lasted for five months.

“Taking into account the discussions on the technical state of our operating nuclear power plant, we came to the conclusion that the current nuclear power plant can work until 2036,” Gnel Sanosyan, territorial administration and infrastructure minister, told a news conference. “This means that we need to prepare before that and carry out work on the construction of a new unit.”

He said that the construction would last for seven to eight years.

Specialists from Russia’s Rusatom Service, a subsidiary of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, helped Armenia in carrying out maintenance works on its Soviet-built nuclear power plant. The maintenance was aimed at the plant’s “modernisation and extension of its life” and was the longest in its history.

Specialists said that the extension would add 10 more years to the life of the plant that is currently due to be decommissioned in 2026.

The 815-megawatt power plant, which generates around 40 percent of the country’s electricity, has two reactors, one of which was commissioned in December 1976, the second – in January 1980.

The station was shut down in March 1989 after the earthquake in the Armenian town of Spitak in December 1988, which killed 25,000 people. The second reactor was re-commissioned in November 1995 due to the energy crisis in the country.

The Armenian government failed to attract investors to build a new and safer nuclear station in the country and decided to extend the life of the 420-megawatt reactor for another 10 years, until 2026.

Russia has provided Yerevan with a $270 million loan and a $30 million grant for major safety upgrades that are due to be completed in 2023.

European experts say that the ageing Metsamor power plant continues to pose a serious challenge to regional security. The decommissioning of Metsamor was included in both the 2006 European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) Action Plan and the 2017 Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA).