Armenian government establishes company to oversee new nuclear power plant construction

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YEREVAN, August 1. /ARKA/. The Armenian government approved the creation of a closed joint-stock company with a charter capital of 200 million drams (20,000 shares with a nominal value of 10,000 drams each), the country’snbsp; Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan announced on Thursday./pp

All shares of the new company are state-owned./pp

Sanosyan revealed that in line with the energy development strategy, a new power unit of at least equal capacity must be built next to the current nuclear power plant by 2040, following the end of its operational life. The new company will be established to organize this process in accordance with IAEA recommendations./pp

The company will conduct a comparative study of all proposed technologies and feasibility studies and provide the government with recommendations. It will then negotiate and prepare the necessary documents for the construction, financing, ownership, and operation of the new nuclear power plant./pp

The existing Armenian Nuclear Power Plant, the only one in the South Caucasus region, is located near the town of Metsamor, approximately 30 kilometers west of Yerevan. The plant is one of the core sources of electricity in the country, providing up to 40% of total production. Its operational life has been extended until 2026, with ongoing work to further prolong it for another 10 years./pp

Plans are in place to construct a new nuclear power plant within 8-10 years. Previously, Kirill Komarov, First Deputy Director General of Rosatom, the Russian nuclear operator, told the ARKA news agency that the corporation could offer Armenia nuclear reactors with capacities ranging from 50 to 1000 MW. He mentioned the possibility of assembling a reactor of any capacity from 50 MW blocks./p br br