Minister: No final decision yet on nuclear power plant with small  modular reactors

ArmInfo. A nuclear power plant with small modular reactors (SMRs) is to be built in Armenia. This was announced by RA Minister of Territorial Administration and  Infrastructure David Khudatyan at a press conference on February 3.

According to him, the process of studying existing proposals from  SMR-producing countries is currently ongoing. These include projects  proposed by Russia, the United States, China, Korea, and France.   Nevertheless, the minister noted, no final decision has yet been made  on the SMRs. Khudatyan continued, "It appears likely that the studies  will be conducted in either 2026 or 2027." "We don't need to rush,  and depending on the SMR model, we will negotiate with the producing  country," Khudatyan said, adding that the SMR nuclear power plant  system is not widespread worldwide. The minister recalled that the  second program to extend the operating life of Unit 2 at the Armenian  Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP) to 2036 is currently underway. Khudatyan  assessed the results of the first program as highly successful.

As a reminder, the minister previously noted that there are currently  no SMR nuclear power plants in the world. He emphasized that several  are scheduled to be commissioned this year, and after studying their  effectiveness, a final decision will be made on the SMR type and  country of manufacture. For this reason, the country's authorities  are allocating one to two years to complete this task.