Armenia made strategic decision to have modular nuclear power plant – PM

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has attached importance to building a modular nuclear power plant in Armenia in terms of both diversification of energy opportunities as well as external security.

“We’ve made a strategic decision that we must have a small modular nuclear power plant,” he said at the Global Armenian Summit when asked about Armenia’s policy on energy security. “Experts explained to us that a possible accident at a modular nuclear power plant is considered to be an incident of local significance. This means that in the event of an accident happening inside a nuclear power plant built with modular technologies the population of a town 500 meters away wouldn’t be evacuated. Meaning it would be an incident of local significance that doesn’t pose a threat to the environment. This made it obvious that we must proceed on that path,” Pashinyan said. 

PM Pashinyan said several countries have reached the phase of using modular nuclear power plant technology, such as the United States, France, Russia and South Korea. 

“Last year I participated in the nuclear energy summit in Brussels, and after that there was no doubt left that this technology is sufficiently developed and its introduction is just a matter of time. We must have a modular nuclear power plant, so that it isn’t anyhow deemed as a threat neither inside Armenia nor for surrounding countries,” Pashinyan said.