Armenian Minister of Territorial Adinistration and Infrastructure Suren Papikyan and Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopirkin today visited the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia to monitor modernization work at the plant’s Unit 2 being implemented by the Russian Rusatom Service company, a subsidiary of the Rosatom Group.

The Metsamor Plant consists of two units. The first was activated in 1976, the second in 1980. Both were shut down following the 1988 Spitak Earthquake. Unit 2 was restarted in 1995.

The current modernization of Unit 2, partially financed by a Russian government loan, will allow the unit to operate until 2026.

A statement released by Papikyan’s office says the Armenian government intends to extend the operation of the plant at least until 2036.

"At the same time, the main goal of our development strategy is to build a new nuclear power plant," Papikyan said.

The nuclear plant, located 35 kilometers west of Yerevan, generates roughly 40% of Armenia’s electricity.