The United States announced a threat to national security due to dependence on nuclear fuel from the Russian Federation
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US dependence on Russian nuclear fuel poses a critical threat to national security as well as climate goals, said Financial Times (FT) Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Katherine Huff. She called on Congress to allocate funds to restore the domestic supply chain and limit imports from the country.
Ms. Huff said it is “a matter of grave concern” that about 20% of the fuel used in US nuclear reactors is contracted by Russian suppliers. Russia controls nearly 50% of the world’s nuclear enrichment capacity and has for years “successfully worked to undermine the US nuclear supply chain” by supplying cheap enriched uranium products to world markets, the official said.
“It is very important to get rid of our dependence, especially on Russia. Without action, Russia will continue to hold this market… This is really important for national security, for the climate, for our energy independence,” Katherine Huff emphasized.
She clarified that the US administration has requested an additional $2.16 billion from Congress to support a strategy to encourage US companies to increase enrichment capacity. But the success of these measures will depend on the introduction of long-term restrictions on Russian nuclear products and services, Ms. Huff is convinced.
She added that five to 10 new reactor contracts need to be signed over the next two to three years if the US is to meet its 2050 climate goals. “We need to see these contracts in the next two to three years, otherwise we will not achieve the commercial head start needed to produce the amount of clean energy we need by 2050,” the official said.
In 2022, the European Union (EU) returned to the strategy of increasing nuclear fuel reserves for the first time in eight years. Owners of Soviet-type reactors began stocking up on fuel due to fears of sanctions on supplies from Russia. At the same time, operators of nuclear power plants of Western design are actively moving away from purchasing uranium from the Russian Federation, which is why the volume of its supplies to the EU in 2022 fell by 16% year-on-year. Rosatom said that the decrease in supply volumes may be due to the delivery schedule and market prices for products.
Details – in the material “Kommersant” “Uranium for a rainy day”.
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