The 9 Billion Dollars Armenia Will Pay May Not Be the Final Figure: Ghazinyan

If Armenia pays 5 billion dollars for the construction of an American modular nuclear power plant and 4 billion dollars for its maintenance, then the cost of electricity produced by this plant will amount to 60-80 drams per kWh. This was stated by David Ghazinyan, the former acting director of the 'Armenian Electric Networks' company, during a meeting with reporters.

He clarified that in such a case the plant either will not operate, as it will produce electricity that is too expensive, or the tariffs will have to be raised, or the difference will need to be subsidized by the state.

Ghazinyan noted that in the USA, the first license for the construction of a modular nuclear power plant was granted in 2023, but construction work was halted the same year because the actual costs were higher than indicated in the project. He emphasized that this indicates that the 9 billion dollars that Armenia may pay might not be the final figure.

'No one is saying that a modular nuclear power plant is inherently a bad thing. We are saying that the given country has not yet constructed such a plant, so it is not possible to practically verify an object that it has built itself. To my knowledge, there is no country in the world whose modular nuclear power plant is connected to the energy system,' said David Ghazinyan.