The United States has no way to replace uranium supplies from russia

In 2022, the United States purchased a quarter less uranium from russia than a year earlier. But this hardly indicates Washington's readiness to abandon purchases of russian raw materials: analysts explain the reduction by high prices and the specifics of contracts. So far, the United States has nothing to replace russian uranium.

Source. The New York Times.

American companies pay russia a billion dollars a year for uranium. This is one of the largest cash flows that the United States has with russia.

Last year, American nuclear power plant operators reduced their purchases of uranium from russia by 24%, Kommersant writes, citing an EIA report. At the same time, russia's share in the US uranium market decreased slightly (from 13% in 2021 to 11.7% last year), as US consumers generally reduced purchases of raw materials last year by 13% year-on-year, according to statistics.

The United States has 93 nuclear power units that generated 18.2% of the country's electricity last year. 95% of uranium feedstock for US nuclear power plants is purchased abroad, mainly from Canada (27% in 2022), as well as from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and russia.

Last year, uranium supplies to the United States from Canada and Uzbekistan increased by 61% and 78% year-on-year, respectively.

russia remains the leader in US imports of uranium enrichment services (the most capital-intensive and technologically complex process in the nuclear fuel cycle) with a share of 33% last year.

Despite the decline in supplies from russia, it is premature to say that the United States is abandoning russian uranium. Analysts interviewed by Kommersant point out that uranium supplies from russia to the United States are highly price-dependent: purchases increase when prices fall and decrease when prices rise. This is the specificity of long-term contracts.

But russian raw materials still remain the cheapest in the world, the NYT notes.

Today, American buyers of uranium pay about $1 billion annually to Rosatom subsidiaries, the newspaper writes.

In the future, the US dependence on russian uranium will only grow, the NYT predicts, pointing to the US government's plans to use less fossil fuels to combat climate change. It could take years to replace russian uranium, not to mention that it will require significant financial investments, the newspaper adds.

Background. As a reminder, the United States is going to provide Ukraine with depleted uranium shells.