The White House is studying the possibility of banning the import of enriched uranium from Russia, Bloomberg reported on Monday (April 29). Bloomberg reports that officials from U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration’s National Security Council, Department of Energy and other relevant agencies are studying the issue.
It is reported that the reason why this topic is currently attracting attention is that the U.S. Congress has not yet reached a consensus on banning the import of Russian uranium in December last year.
Data from the U.S. Department of Energy shows that Russia supplies nearly a quarter of the enriched uranium for the country’s more than 90 commercial nuclear reactors . According to Bloomberg, these sales bring Russia about $1 billion in revenue annually, and the White House noted that dependence on Russian uranium resources “poses risks to the U.S. economy.”
On April 20, Biden announced that the United States had produced the first batch of 90 kilograms of enriched uranium. Biden said that by the end of this year, about one ton of enriched uranium is expected to be produced, which can provide energy for 100,000 homes.
On March 28, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s International Security Advisory Council wrote in a report that dependence on Russian nuclear fuel is posing a serious threat to US national security. The report also pointed out that Russia is dominating the global nuclear fuel market.
Bloomberg reported on March 3 that at least five large mining companies in the United States are reopening uranium mines due to rising demand and prices for nuclear fuel. The International Atomic Energy Agency predicts that demand for uranium will reach 100,000 tons by 2024. To achieve such results, companies will have to increase mining and processing rates to nearly twice the rate at which they are currently working.
