ArmInfo. The Armenian government has allocated 200 million drams to replenish the authorized capital of the newly established CJSC .
On August 1, 2024, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to establish this closed joint-stock company in order to manage the project to build a new nuclear power unit in Armenia.
It was noted that the CJSC will comply with the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The organizational and legal form of the organization and the selection of personnel must also comply with the IAEA standards, and funding must be provided from the state budget of the Republic of Armenia. The general management of the company must be carried out by an authorized body, in this case the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of the Republic of Armenia. The CJSC must conduct a comparative study of all proposed technologies and feasibility studies, based on which it will submit a professional proposal for the selection of technology. After the proposal is approved by the Government of the Republic of Armenia, the company will have to negotiate and prepare documents related to the construction, financing, ownership and operation of a new nuclear power unit or units after the adoption of the law on the construction of a new nuclear power unit.
The company will have to manage, organize and be responsible for the construction of a new nuclear power unit, i.e. be the project executor. Depending on the stages of the above-mentioned works, the CJSC should be staffed with the appropriate personnel, and then become the operator after the completion of the construction of the new unit. According to rough estimates, about 800 million drams will be allocated for the creation and operation of the company at the preparatory stage in 2024, and 800 million drams in subsequent years. Taking into account the IAEA recommendations, a staff of 50-60 highly qualified specialists in various fields (electric power industry, nuclear physics, environmental protection, education, urban planning, etc.) is required to implement such a project. "We believe that after the creation of this organization and the recruitment of the appropriate personnel, within 1.5-2 years it will be able to issue the government a substantiated proposal regarding the choice of technology. It should be noted that all countries building new nuclear power units (UAE, Romania, Egypt, Turkey, Bangladesh, etc.) have taken this path," Gnel Sanosyan, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of the Republic of Armenia, emphasized at the time.
Now it is noted that the current decision includes an amount of 200 million drams in the current year's budget, which is necessary to replenish the authorized capital (payment for shares) of the established CJSC . In the Law , it was planned to allocate the above-mentioned amount in the fourth quarter. However, given the importance and urgency of the implementation of the envisaged processes, it is planned to allocate 200.0 million drams from temporarily free funds of sources of financing the state budget deficit. transfer from the fourth quarter to the first.
The Armenian authorities prefer to deal with a reference unit in order to eliminate all possible risks. In this regard, it should be noted that the projects of small modular reactors are presented only on paper. They are either at the design stage or licensing. In turn, Russia offers its own version regarding the capacity of the new power unit of 1000-1200 MW, which has already been tested in many countries around the world. However, the problem here is that the capacity of the Russian-designed power unit may not fit into the country's energy system, the installed capacity of which is still the same 1 thousand MW.
At present, the Armenian NPP continues to implement the project for the repeated extension of the service life of the second power unit of the NPP - until 2036. For these purposes, the RA government has allocated $65 million. By the specified date, a new nuclear power unit must be built in the country.
