Officials representing the Armenian Atomic Power Plant CJSC and the Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore the possibility of constructing a new Russian-designed atomic power plant in Armenia.

The MoU was signed in Dubai on the sidelines of the World Expo 2020.

Rosatom is a Russian state corporation headquartered in Moscow that specializes in nuclear energy, nuclear non-energy goods and high-tech products. 

Armenian Atomic Power Plant (AAPP) CJSC operates the Metzamor nuclear plant 22 miles west of Yerevan.

The Metzamor plant comprises two Russian-built 376 MWe VVER reactors which started operating in 1976 and 1980, respectively. Both units were taken offline in 1988 due to safety concerns regarding seismic vulnerability, although they both continued to operate and had not sustained any damage in a major earthquake in the region earlier that year. Unit 2 was restarted in 1995 and is subject to ongoing safety improvements. Unit 1 is now being decommissioned.

Last October, the Armenian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ANRA) issued a permit to AAPP CJSC to continue operating unit 2 until September 2026. This is beyond the originally granted license, which is until the end of 2021.