Pashinyan announces strategic decision on new nuclear power plant

ArmInfo.Armenian authorities have made a strategic decision regarding the construction of a new  nuclear power plant, which will be a modular plant. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this on September 18 at the Global Armenian Summit in Yerevan.

At the same time, the prime minister noted that the technology of  modular nuclear power plants has not yet reached the stage of  application, but several countries are currently developing it.  

It should be noted that the government has signed a  with the Unite States regarding  nuclear power. The US  offers small modular plants with a capacity of up to 300 MW, but they  have not yet been tested in practice. It is too early to discuss  their efficiency.  Meanwhile, as is well known, their first samples  were built by the Russians and Chinese, not the Americans.  Russia  has already signed contracts for the construction of 6 modular  stations in Uzbekistan and is currently building a similar unit in  Yakutia.

Recall that the nuclear power plant in Armenia was initially  scheduled for decommissioning in 2016, but its service life was  extended until 2026. Then the authorities decided to further extend  the service life of power unit N2 until 2036.  In turn, the Russian  Federation presented  its proposal for a 1200 MW power unit, but as  RA Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel  Sanosyan previously noted, the constructing a unit of this capacity  poses challenges, since the total  capacity of Armenia's  entire  energy system is also 1200 MW.  However, according to independent  industry experts, the currently operating power unit N2 of the  Armenian NPP provides up to 40% of all electricity generated in the  country to the energy system. It also helps solve a number of  economic and social problems, as the tariff from the plant is the  lowest compared to other generation facilities, at about AMD 12 per 1  kWh of electricity. For comparison: the tariff from thermal power  facilities is 46 drams, from HPP - 25 drams, etc.  Experts believe it  is not difficult to calculate the consequences the closure of nuclear  power plant will have for the country's economy and the population in  general,

If we keep in mind that small modular reactors (SMRs) are either in  the design or licensing stage, experts believe their industrial  production will take at least 20 years, and Yerevan can  not afford  to wait for such a long period of time. Specialists and experts note  that in the midst of the rapid development of the fifth industrial  revolution worldwide, which will eventually reach Armenia, the  country will require a power station with high capacity - up to 1200  MW. Just switching the entire country's motor transport to electric  cars will require capacities equal to the capacities of the currently  operating power unit of the Armenian NPP. To this should be added the  active development of the mining industry. Several metal processing  enterprises are also under construction, and active capital  construction is underway. Furthermore, experts warn against  disregarding the plans to fully decommission the two thermal units of  Yerevan and Hrazdan TPPs, which will result in a significant loss of  capacity.