A report by the U.S. State Department’s National Security Council noted that the United States is heavily dependent on Russian uranium for nuclear reactor fuel.
” The United States is over-reliant on Russian uranium for nuclear reactor fuel and over-reliant on China for minerals,” the publicly released report reads .
The report also pointed out that the United States is not the dominant country in the supply of nuclear technology, and Russia has become the leader in the reactor and nuclear fuel markets.
In December 2023, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill banning the import of Russian-origin low-enriched uranium, which will be effective until 2040.
The bill involves restrictions on the import of low-enriched uranium produced in the Russian Federation or by enterprises registered in Russia, but the bill authorizes the U.S. Secretary of Energy, in coordination with the Secretary of State and the head of the Department of Commerce, to impose restrictions on the import of low-enriched uranium when other sources of uranium supply are unavailable or when imports of Russian fuel are consistent with U.S. national This ban may be lifted in the interest of interest.
According to a report by the Financial Times in February, the U.S. bill banning the import of Russian enriched uranium is expected to take effect in 2024.
U.S. experts pointed out that refusing to import enriched uranium from Russia may seriously affect the United States’ plans to build its own advanced reactors. They emphasized that enriched uranium producers are unwilling to invest in the production of high-content low-enriched uranium fuel (HALEU) before ensuring sufficient orders. At the same time, advanced reactors are still regarded as “paper ideas” by many customers, and therefore, customers have little willingness to sign HALEU contracts.
Russia has repeatedly stated that the country will respond to the sanctions pressure that the West began to impose on Russia several years ago and continues to intensify. Moscow pointed out that the West lacks the courage to admit the failure of sanctions against Russia. Western countries themselves have repeatedly stated that anti-Russian sanctions are ineffective. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously stated that the policy of containing and weakening Russia is the West’s long-term strategy, and sanctions have dealt a serious blow to the entire world economy. He believed that the West’s main goal was to make life worse for millions of people.
