ArmInfo. Armenia risks losing its nuclear energy competencies if it moves away from Russian nuclear technologies, said Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev in an interview with Izvestia.
"Armenia is the only country in the Caucasus that proudly carries the banner of nuclear energy. And losing this competence, that is, losing nuclear energy altogether [due to abandoning Russian technology], would be "irresponsible from a management standpoint," Likhachev said. He added that Yerevan must decide on its future nuclear energy partner beyond 2036 as early as 2026–2027, while emphasizing that the final decision rests with Armenia.
He also said Russia has not yet received a response from the Armenian side regarding the future operation of the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant. According to him, the current arrangement—under which Russia supports the plant's operation until 2031—could be extended to 2036, as proposed by Rosatom.
The head of Rosatom also stated that there are essentially only two fully-fledged nuclear technologies in the world: the American and Soviet (now Russian) and warned that switching to U.S. technology would require a full overhaul of Armenia's training and operational systems.
In February, US Vice President JD Vance promised Armenia up to $9 billion in investments in the civilian nuclear energy sector upon the conclusion of negotiations on the so-called "1-2-3 Agreement." He specified that this entails up to $5 billion in exports from the US, alongside an additional $4 billion in long-term support through fuel supply and technical maintenance contracts.
