Armenia's Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 — a VVER-440 reactor upgraded from 376 MWe to 416 MWe — was shut for a 140-day outage in 2021 to allow extension of operating lifetime, including work to support operation to 2026 and preparatory work for a further extension to 2036. Additional work to support the 2036 extension took place during the unit's maintenance shutdown in 2025. Metsamor provides approximately 40% of Armenia's electricity, making it critical to national energy security. Armenia's pursuit of new nuclear (including the February 2026 US $9 billion civil nuclear deal) is driven by its desire to maintain nuclear capacity when Metsamor reaches end of licensed life. Update (October 2, 2026): Armenia's leadership and the plant's management are now considering operating Metsamor until 2041-2046, subject to IAEA assessment and approval, and are discussing it with Rosatom. Rosatom's director general says this is technically possible but may not be economically viable: it would need large-scale modernisation of safety and automation systems, additional work on the reactor vessel and expanded spent fuel storage, costing hundreds of millions of dollars and potentially doubling the cost of electricity. The current extension to 2036 is funded with $65 million and carried out by Rusatom Service. The October report puts Metsamor's share of domestic electricity demand at roughly 30%, against the 40% cited above. The projected date shown (2036) is the current licensed end of operation.