On March 12, 2026, an expert discussion titled “Challenges and Prospects of Nuclear Energy in Armenia” was held at the press club of “EcoLur” Informational NGO.
Energy sector expert Ara Marjanyan delivered a presentation on “Key Issues of Nuclear Energy in Armenia.” In his speech, he addressed several important issues and developments in the field of nuclear energy.
CEPA Agreement and the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant
Referring to the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the Republic of Armenia, on the one hand, and the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their member states, on the other, Ara Marjanyan stated:
“The entire geopolitical and energy-related content of CEPA is embedded in Article 42 of Chapter 2. It states that, in the field of peaceful nuclear energy, Armenia should close and decommission the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant - a goal that is fully aligned with the policy of the Government of the Republic of Armenia. There is also an important addition: ‘the need for its replacement with new capacity to ensure the energy security of the Republic of Armenia.’
This formulation provides Armenia with some flexibility - to shut down Metsamor plant only when replacement capacity is available. However, there is room for interpretation: what does ‘replacement’ mean?
For example, during the first administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, replacement capacity was interpreted as photovoltaic solar energy. If you have a 440 MW nuclear unit, it would be sufficient to have 440 MW of installed photovoltaic solar capacity.
Currently, we already have twice that amount of solar photovoltaic capacity, which could be interpreted as sufficient replacement capacity - that is one interpretation.
The second interpretation, from professional energy specialists, is that nuclear installed capacity is dispatchable and provides guaranteed capacity throughout the year. Therefore, replacement capacity should not be just any 440 MW of installed capacity, but 440 MW of guaranteed, dispatchable capacity,” Ara Marjanyan noted.
Responding to this, Hovhannes Abrahamyan, Head of Energy Regional Markets Department of RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, noted that although the word “nuclear” is absent from the official CEPA text, there was a shared understanding among negotiating parties that it refers to new nuclear capacity.
Armenia Joins Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy by 2050
During the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), 25 countries, including Armenia, signed a declaration to triple global nuclear installed capacity by 2050.
“Two days ago, China, Brazil, Italy, and Belgium joined the declaration. Thus, today 32 countries are part of it. This has been reflected in Armenia’s nationally determined contributions (NDC) for 2026–2035 under the Paris Agreement, approved by a Government decision,” Ara Marjanyan noted.
Negotiations with the United States and SMR Experience
The expert noted that Armenia is negotiating with the United States to join the U.S. 123 Agreement.
According to Marjanyan, in 2023 a large Armenian delegation visited the United States to get familiar with nuclear energy developments. The delegation attended a presentation by NuScale Power Corporation, which was offering a small modular reactor (SMR) model.
However, three months after the visit, the company announced its bankruptcy and the suspension of its SMR project development.
March 23, 2026 at 17:31