The Armenian government has not yet selected a foreign partner or technology for replacing its aging Soviet-era Metsamor nuclear plant, Pashinian said at a press briefing in Yerevan, adding that the choice would be driven by economic rather than geopolitical considerations.
“The nuclear power plant issue is not a geopolitical choice for us,” he said. “We need the best price-quality ratio. Whoever makes us the best offer, we’ll see us accept that offer.”
Pashinian said Armenia was not ruling out any option, including a Russian proposal for small modular reactors (SMRs). He said the government would consider a range of factors, including the price, payback period, construction time and financing arrangements.
“We have never said that the Russian proposal cannot be the best offer, including in terms of modular reactors,” Pashinian said.
He spoke in Yerevan two days after holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The two leaders discussed growing rifts in Armenian-Russian relations over Yerevan’s increasingly close ties with the West. No reference to Armenia’s nuclear power plant was made during the open portion of the talks.
Pashinian’s comments come as Armenia seeks to determine how it will replace the Metsamor plant’s sole functioning reactor, which generates roughly one-third of the country’s electricity. The reactor is currently scheduled to be decommissioned in 2036.
Pashinian said the government has committed to making a decision on the technology for a new nuclear plant by the end of 2027. He added, however, that officials are also working to extend the operating life of the existing plant beyond 2036.
“We must intensify the work over the next year because, yes, we need to make a decision already,” Pashinian said. “But I also want to emphasize that we are working to extend the operating life of the existing nuclear power plant once again beyond 2036.”
Pashinian said in March that Armenia had decided to pursue SMR technology but had not specified which country or company it would cooperate with. He said at the time that Yerevan was assessing proposals from international partners.
The choice of a new nuclear technology has acquired a geopolitical dimension amid Armenia’s increasingly strained relations with Russia and its deepening ties with the United States and the European Union.
In February, Pashinian and U.S. Vice President JD Vance announced the completion of negotiations on a U.S.-Armenian nuclear cooperation agreement. Vance said after their talks in Yerevan that “American technology” would be coming to Armenia with potentially billions of dollars in U.S. exports and long-term support related to a new nuclear plant.
Russian officials expressed concern about the prospect of a U.S.-backed nuclear project in Armenia. Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, argued then that the U.S. itself does not yet have a functioning SMR plant. He claimed that the possible construction of such a facility in Armenia would therefore pose an environmental threat to not only the South Caucasus country but also Russia.
Pashinian subsequently downplayed the nuclear agreement with Washington, telling reporters later in February that it will only give Armenia access to “complete information about the modular reactor technologies that the United States has.”
Metsamor’s 400-megawatt reactor went into service in 1980. Its operating life has twice been extended following major repairs, most of which were carried out by Russian specialists.