Deputy Minister: Armenia will build new nuclear power unit based on exclusively VVER reactor

ArmInfo. The program of constructing new nuclear power unit in Armenia will be presented to the National Assembly of Armenia, Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources of Armenia Areg Galstyan told journalists answering to ArmInfo's question on the sidelines of the 17th session of the CIS Commission for Use of Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purposes that has kicked off in Yerevan.

According to him the Armenian government will constantly implement all the programs set in the strategic documents. Preliminary and project work should be conducted prior to launch of construction. Armenia still has 10 years to make the final decision. There are already units on the market with a capacity of up to 600 MW. "One thing is obvious. We will construct the new unit using exclusively Water-Water Energetic Reactor (VVER)", the Deputy Minister stressed. He noted that a lot of countries, among them Russia, China and the USA are developing units of medium and small capacity. The USA for example develops so called small modular reactors. "There is a certain competition on the market, which is very good", the Deputy Minister said.

The Armenian government made a decision to extend life cycle of the second unit of Armenian NPP as the construction of the new nuclear unit had been postponed. Rosatom jointly with Armenian experts agreed to work on the project implementation to extend operation of the NPP for 10 years till-2026. The activities will last for 5 years according to the plan and will finish in 2019. Russia will provide state export loan to Armenia amounted to $270 mln and grant amounted to $30 mln.