US Congress takes first step to ban uranium imports from Russia

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to ban the import of Russian uranium for nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants. It will come into effect 90 days after the law comes into force, The Hill reports.

The bill still has to pass the US Senate and must be signed by President Joe Biden. According to the newspaper, it is still unclear whether there will be enough time to vote on this issue before the end of the year.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), most of the uranium used in U.S. nuclear power plants is imported. Thus, about 12% of these imports in 2022 came from Russia, 27% were imported from Canada, and 25% from Kazakhstan. According to the EIA, the United States produced about 5% of the uranium used domestically this year.

The United States banned imports of Russian oil after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and, along with other Western countries, imposed restrictions on the export of oil and oil products by sea. However, uranium imports were not banned.

Katie McMorris Rodgers, a congresswoman and member of the House of Representatives from the Republican Party, said that one of the most serious security threats the United States faces now is dependence on Russia's supply of nuclear fuel for its nuclear fleet. According to her, the war in Ukraine has exacerbated this problem.

The United States used to buy uranium from Russia because of dumping by Rosatom, which did not want to let the excess capacity left over from the Soviet era sit idle. The United States also cared about its environment, as mining and enrichment leave radioactive waste, all of which is stored in Russia. Now, the United States may have to do the enrichment itself, Andriy Ozharovsky, a physics engineer and expert in the Radioactive Waste Safety Program, explained in a commentary to The Insider.

"The United States has been buying uranium from Russia through dumping all this time. The United States does not treat energy as a political weapon. They buy from many, buy where it is profitable, and Rosatom dumps. It's a market – if you don't want to buy from one seller, you'll buy from another.

The Russian Federation supplied uranium mined in Krasnokamensk, Kurgan Oblast or Buryatia and, importantly, "services" for uranium ore purification and uranium enrichment – both operations are very dirty and result in large amounts of radioactive waste. This is one of the reasons why the United States does not want to mine or enrich uranium on its territory – it is protecting its nature," the expert noted.

"Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Australia supply natural, enriched uranium – they do not have enrichment facilities. Rosatom does". Now, apparently, the United States will have to do the enrichment itself," he added.

The bill provides for exceptions that allow imports of unenriched uranium from Russia if the US Secretary of Energy determines that there is no alternative source of supply for nuclear reactor operation or if the supply is in the national interest of the United States.