ARMENIAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IS MOST IMPORTANT PRIORITY OF RUSSIAN INFLUENCE IN REGION, STEPAN GRIGORIAN SAYS

Noyan Tapan

Se p 23, 2008

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The proposal of Russia to build a
new nuclear power plant in Armenia bears evidence of Russia’s intention
to strengthen its influence in the South Caucasus. The Chairman of the
Globalization and Regional Development Analysis Center Stepan Grigorian
expressed this opinion during a talk with NT correspendent. He said
that the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP), which was constructed
by a Russian design and, under an Armenian-Russian agreement, has
been transferred to the Russian side for trust management, is the most
important priority of Russia’s influence in the region. As for Armenia,
according to S. Grigorian, a vital necessity has arisen to build a new
nuclear power plant in Armenia, taking into account the obligations
of our country to the EU to close down the ANPP in 2016 as well as the
growing prices of oil products and gas. In his words, atomic energy is
the only stable source of electricity generation for Armenia that is
not rich in energy resources. The political scientist reminded that
the Armenian government has also received proposals on construction
of a new nuclear power plant from the U.S. and France. "In any case
it is worth working with Russia and other possible investors in this
sector. In this respect Armenia has some choice," S. Grigorian noted.

To recap, issues of Armenian-Russian cooperation in the atomic energy
sector, including the possibility of constructing a new nuclear
power unit, were discussed during the meeting of Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan and the Director General of Rosatom state corporation
(Russia) Sergei Kirienko two weeks ago.

Reference: The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant consists of two power
units and has an installed capacity of 815 megawatts. After the 1988
earthquake the plant was stopped by a special decision of the Soviet
government. In November 1995, the second unit of the ANPP was put
into operation again. The ANPP currently generates 2 billion kwh of
electricity a year.