“The operating life of this station is nearing its end, and we are now taking a decision on the next nuclear power plant,” Pashinyan said, on the agency’s account. Metsamor’s second unit, a Soviet VVER-440 restarted in 1995 after the earthquake of 1988 had shut the station, has run since the 2010s on a Russian-financed life extension; the 10 years now being added would carry it to 2036, and the 8 to 10 years for a new plant would have the new unit ready at about the time the old one stops. The only study he named is Rosatom’s.
A 1,200 MW unit is the Russian corporation’s standard export reactor, 3 times Metsamor’s working output; the other 4 governments are named as partners in talks and nothing is said of what they have put on the table. The list of 5 is the widest Yerevan has read out.
The only study he named is Rosatom’s.
The choice is a debt decision as much as an energy one: a plant of that size costs several billion dollars, and the vendor’s government usually lends most of it. Pashinyan gave no cost, no financing model and no date for a decision; the 8-to-10-year build is the only clock in his account.