Armenian FM dicsusses nuclear cooperation with IAEA chief

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan held on July 18 a meeting in Vienna with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi, during which he discussed issues of bilateral cooperation.

"The sides noted with satisfaction that effective and close cooperation has been established between Armenia and the IAEA aimed at strengthening the potential of Armenia in the field of nuclear safety and energy, as well as the peaceful and safe use of atomic energy. During the meeting, a number of issues on the comprehensive agenda of Armenia and the IAEA were discussed. Mirzoyan and Grossi also discussed the prospects for expanding cooperation," the Armenian Foreign Ministry's statement read, TASS reports.

According to the ministry, Grossi expressed satisfaction with the active participation and support of Armenia for the initiatives of the agency, including its accession to the statement "On Atomic Energy", which will be presented at the UN Climate Change Conference.

The talks also focused on the importance of Armenia's participation in the IAEA's "Rays of Hope" medical program, the purpose of which is to ensure progress in the field of oncology and, in particular, radiation medicine.

"In the context of the activities of the IAEA and the programs implemented within the framework of the safe operation of the Armenian NPP, as well as many years of successful experience in this direction, both sides stressed the need to keep the issue of the safe use of nuclear energy away from baseless political speculations," the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Mirzoyan and Grossi also discussed security issues in the region.

Armenia's Matsamor Nuclear Power Plant (NPP)

Armenia’s two-reactor Metsamor NPP is a one-of-a-kind facility in the South Caucasus and is located about 36 kilometers (22 miles) from the capital of Yerevan. The plant was built on an earthquake-prone zone and was put into operation in 1976 without containment structures. It is one of five of the last first-generation water-moderated Soviet-era reactors without a containment vessel, which is a requirement of all modern reactors. While the fuel for NPPs is shipped by sea or rail to mitigate the possible impact of potential accidents, the shipment for the Metsamor reactor is carried out by air from Russia.

In 1988, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit the nearby Spitak region, about 70 km (45 miles) north of the plant, leading to the deaths of thousands of people and the closure of the facility. But by 1995, the plant’s second reactor was back in operation. In 2019, the plant generated 27.8 percent of total electricity produced in Armenia.

As far back as 1995, observers dubbed it a “reckless gamble” with Armenia’s future and the lives of millions of people living in the surrounding countries. At the time, the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, D.C. said in a report that Metsamor is not in line with Western-style safety standards, comparing it to Ukraine’s collapsed Chernobyl reactor. That plant, too, lacked a containment facility that would prevent radioactive substances from escaping in the event of an accident.

Metsamor is frequently cited as the most dangerous reactor of its kind in the post-Soviet region and a core of one of the world’s five nuclear disasters waiting to happen. In 2011, National Geographic even suggested that Metsamor might be "the world’s most dangerous nuclear plant."

In February, the European Commission (EC) said in a report titled “Partnership Implementation Report on Armenia” that the Metsamor NPP, which is already outside its 40-year lifespan, should be shut down and safely decommissioned. According to the report, the nuclear reactor cannot be upgraded to modern international safety standards. EC further urged Armenia’s government to rapidly adopt a road map or action plan to address the issue.

Armenia and the EU have been negotiating to close Metsamor NPP since the late 1990s. Armenia agreed to shut down the reactor in 2004. The EU had even supplied Armenia with funds to close the plant and find substitute energy supplies. However, Yerevan’s unwillingness to close the plant led to failure and the grant aid was frozen in 2005. The subsequent formal cooperation agreements between the EU and Armenia, including in 2006, 2011, 2016, and 2017 have all failed to produce a final agreement for the closure and decommissioning of the Metsamor plant. Yerevan has reportedly held simultaneous talks with Moscow to extend the reactor’s lifespan.

In February 2020, the Armenian government included the reactor in the country’s 2040 energy strategy, which highlights the further extension of the plant’s life and a 12-15 percent increase in its output. Prime Minister Pashinyan has confirmed the continuation of Metsamor NPP’s operation, saying “we will extend the lifecycle of the nuclear power station as long as possible." In late 2020, the Armenian government announced that its Metsamor NPP would close for five months in 2021 to extend its lifespan.

A major nuclear or radiation accident that can happen at Metsamor is believed to affect the people of a greater region spanning Armenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia, and southern Europe.

However, both in Armenia and beyond its borders, some people do not want the extremely dangerous NPP to shut down.

An opinion article written by Stepan Altounian in December 2020, an ethnic Armenian living in California, called for the use of nuclear wastes of Metsamor for producing “dirty bombs,” a type of radiological dispersal device (RDD), which combines conventional explosives, such as dynamite, with radioactive material. The author is convinced that such bombs should be dropped on Azerbaijan’s capital city of Baku and “turn it into a wasteland for the next 5,000 years.” Altounian said Armenia should have considered the use of nuclear weapons against Azerbaijan during last year's 44-day-long war.

Earlier, Armenia’s former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan called for developing nuclear weapons based on the nuclear materials from Metsamor. He even claimed that Armenia already had such weapons of mass destruction.

On April 16, 2021, officers of the State Security Service of Georgia, which borders Armenia, detained two people in Kutaisi, who were attempting to illegally sell the radioactive substance Americium-241. In 2016, Georgian authorities reportedly captured a Georgian man and several ethnic Armenians, which were believed to be former members of the Armenian Security Service, who were also attempting to smuggle and illegally sell some $200 million worth of nuclear-grade materials. The smuggled nuclear material could be used for creating “dirty bombs.”