News - Newspaper: What do Americans want to do in Armenia, without any experience?

Past daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes as follows, in part: RA Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Hakob Vardanyan announced the other day that American organizations are also engaged in technical and economic studies of the construction of a new nuclear power plant [(NPP)] in Armenia. At the same time, Vardanyan had noted that "the cooperation between the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation is of a continuous nature and is currently proceeding in a number of directions in the field of energy." However, there are a few problems here. First, according to experts, it is about a so-called "small NPP," which, however, so far only Russia and China have been able to build in the world. The main reasoning here is the increase of energy independence, as currently it is only 27 percent in Armenia. However, even a cursory examination of the amount of electricity production makes it clear that there are no particular problems here, and most of the electricity [in Armenia] is provided by the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant and the TPPs [i.e. thermal power plants.] It is true that last year the amount of renewable energy [produced in Armenia] increased considerably compared to 2022, but it is still very far from competing with traditional energy. As for the possibility of gaining energy independence by building a nuclear power plant with a lower capacity, experts consider it frivolous, as first of all, the fuel must be brought from somewhere; we are not even talking about the one who pays, after all, dictates "the music." Let's add that last summer it had become known that discussions with specialists from the United States are underway regarding the construction of modular reactors in Armenia.