Environmental Impact of Armenia’s Proposed Nuclear Power Plant

Date: November 9, 2012
Event Type: Seminar
Speaker: Lief Erickson, Deputy Chief, USAID Project Providing Support to Armenia’s Energy Sector
Venue: American University of Armenia

AUA’s College of Science and Engineering organized a seminar focusing on the environmental impact assessment of Armenia’s new nuclear power plant, featuring Mr. Lief Erickson, the Deputy Chief of the USAID project providing support to Armenia’s energy sector.

More than 60 students, faculty and guests attended the seminar led by Mr. Erickson, who has been working with the Government of Armenia since 2007. Among Mr. Erickson’s tasks have been supporting the development of an Environmental Impact Assessment on the proposed nuclear plant.

During his presentation, Mr. Erickson described the process of building a new nuclear plant required by RoA laws and International conventions and summarized the status of the EIA done by CJSC “METSAMORENRGOATOM”, the joint Russian-Armenian company formed as the project’s developer and eventual operator.

The proposed 1000 MW power plant is estimated to cost USD 5 Billion and would require 10 years for design and construction. The design phase alone is expected to cost USD 400 to 500 million, an amount the Government of Armenia is working to secure.