But he did not give any time frames and other details of the expensive project or indicate progress towards its implementation.
Pashinian was among several foreign leaders who took part in the World Atomic Week forum hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was also in attendance.
The Metsamor nuclear plant currently generates around one-third of Armenia’s electricity. The Armenian government plans to decommission it in 2036 after extending the life of its sole functioning reactor by another 10 years. The Soviet-built reactor, which went into service in 1980, has already been modernized in the past decade with the help of Russia’s state nuclear agency, Rosatom.
“This [further] extension will create a strong foundation for a smooth transition to a new power-generating unit after the expiry of the extended lifetime of the Armenian Nuclear Plant, which is our ultimate goal,” Pashinian said in his speech at the forum.
“In this context, Armenia intends to continue closely cooperating with the IAEA and partner countries for determining an optimal decision to replace the existing power-generating unit which will take into account economic effectiveness, safety as well as the specificities and nature of the country’s energy system,” he said. “New energy facilities going into service will become an important factor of regional development.”
He said nothing about the key questions of who could be contracted by his government to build the new plant and when.
Both Russia and the United States have shown an interest in the project requiring billions of dollars in investment. Pashinian’s administration has signaled its preference for the U.S. amid lingering tensions with Moscow.
In May 2022, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and then U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed a memorandum of understanding on “strategic nuclear cooperation” between their countries. A senior U.S. State Department official said a year later that Washington is “assessing the feasibility” of building a nuclear plant equipped with small modular reactors (SMRs) in Armenia.
The U.S. company NuScale Power Corp planned to build America’s first SMR plant in Idaho by 2030. It was due to consist of six reactors with a combined capacity of 462 megawatts roughly matching that of Metsamor’s reactor. However, NuScale cancelled the $9.3 billion project for economic reasons in November 2023. The cost of the project exceeds Armenia’s 2025 state budget, meaning that it is hardly realistic for the South Caucasus nation.
In May 2024, the Armenian government said that it is negotiating with the U.S., Russia as well as South Korea on the matter. It gave no details of the talks. Two months later, the government set up a company tasked with looking into foreign investors’ proposals on the design and cost of the new nuclear plant and recommending a final decision within the next two years. Nothing has since been known about the company’s activities.