The readout, carried by Armenpress at 14:52 Yerevan time from the prime minister’s office, names the two subjects: the life of the plant’s second unit beyond its current term, and the Russian side’s proposals for a new unit. Likhachev presented proposals for a new plant and for units of small and medium capacity and spoke of constructive cooperation, the readout says. It gives no year and no sum.
The year on record is 2036. Likhachev told Izvestia in May that a repeat extension of the unit to 2036 was expected to be signed, and that the choice between medium-capacity and gigawatt-class units lay with the Armenian side, news.am reported on 27 May.
Likhachev said Rosatom was working with Armenian partners on the Nairit project, the waste of the synthetic-rubber plant closed in 2010, and that Armenia could not be dropped “because we are extending the plant”, with the leadership in Yerevan to decide which way to go.
The plant at Metsamor runs one VVER-440 unit, the second of the two built in the Soviet years, restarted in 1995 after the stop that followed the 1988 earthquake. Its first extension, to 2026, was financed by Russia, and the extension to 2036 is the second.
In a meeting with Vladimir Putin reported by TASS and carried by Armenpress at 10:55 on Tuesday, Likhachev said Rosatom was working with Armenian partners on the Nairit project, the waste of the synthetic-rubber plant closed in 2010, and that Armenia could not be dropped “because we are extending the plant”, with the leadership in Yerevan to decide which way to go.
The other offers are not named in the readout, and “soon” has no date. What the government has printed is its test: price, quality, safety, timing and guarantees, in that order.