Russia raises alarm over planned American small reactors in Armenia

Russia will factor in additional nuclear safety risks if plans to build small nuclear reactors in Armenia using American technology move into an implementation phase, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said in comments to Russian media.

According to Shoigu, Armenia lies in a seismically active region, which makes any new nuclear construction a matter of heightened concern. He noted that Soviet engineers had previously applied a unique foundation design at the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant, allowing the facility to withstand the devastating 1988 earthquake, with one of its power units still operating today.

“If American small reactors are built, all countries in the region and the population of Armenia will have to take new nuclear safety risks into account,” Shoigu said.

He added that Moscow would proceed on the assumption that “American experiments in nuclear technologies will be located nearby, in a seismically dangerous zone,” describing such a development as a potential threat. Shoigu also referred to the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant, where an earthquake led to the destruction of American-designed reactors and caused radioactive contamination.

By Tamilla Hasanova