The Armenian NPP (ANPP) has resumed operations a week ahead of schedule following the completion of planned preventive maintenance, according to the ANPP press service. The main contractor involved in the maintenance of the NPP is Rosatom, which also supplies fuel for the plant.

ANPP at Metsamor was built in the 1970s with two Soviet-supplied VVER-440-V230 units but was closed following a devastating earthquake in 1988. However, unit 2 was recommissioned with Russian help in 1995 following severe energy shortages. In March 2014, the Armenian government decided to extend the plant’s service life to 2026. That work, also undertaken by Rosatom, saw the unit’s emergency cooling system, engine room, turbines and steam generators modernised, and annealing of the reactor pressure vessel.

The modernisation was mostly implemented under a loan agreement signed between Armenia and Russia in 2015. However, in 2020, the Armenian government decided to provide a loan worth AMD 63.2bn ($131m) from the state budget to extend the operating life of unit 2 at the Armenian nuclear power plant. Citing economic considerations, the Armenian government said it would use only 60% of a $270m Russian loan intended to finance the modernisation.

Starting in 2025, Rosatom specialists will extract samples from the reactor vessel of the Armenian NPP each year and check the properties of the metal and changes in its structure. As a result of the latest maintenance work the operating life of the unit has now been extended until 2036.

Currently, Armenia is discussing the option of constructing a new NPP using Western modular technologies instead of Russian ones. In July, Secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, Armen Grigoryan said Armenia and the US were discussing the possibility of building a new NPP and the process had entered the subject phase. “We are discussing the legal framework without which we cannot advance. At the moment, I can say that the ball is in the US’s court,” he noted.

Nevertheless, Armenia has a long-standing working relationship with Rosatom in the nuclear sphere. In January, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian Pashinian said Armenia planned to build a new NPP within 8-10 years and that various options were being investigated, including technologies from Russia, the USA, and South Korea.

Earlier in August, the government set up a closed joint-stock company to manage plans for the construction of a new nuclear power unit. It will report to the Ministry of Territorial Administration & Infrastructure and will undertake a comparative study of all the proposed technologies and feasibility studies. The company will be project manager for the new unit and subsequently its operator. “We believe that after the creation of this organisation and the recruitment of appropriate personnel, within 1.5-2 years it will be able to issue a reasonable proposal to the government regarding the choice of technology,” said Minister of Territorial Administration & Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan.