U.S. nuclear power still heavily dependent on Russian uranium – Kommersant
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U.S. nuclear power industry continues to be heavily dependent on Russian enriched uranium supplies, American newspaper reports. The New York Times (NYT). According to the publication, Washington cannot refuse to purchase enriched uranium from Russia, despite the desire to sever all economic ties with Moscow because of the military conflict in Ukraine. According to Kommersant, the Russian Federation is currently one of the main suppliers of uranium to the United States.
According to the newspaper, American companies pay about $1 billion annually for nuclear fuel from Russia, which generates more than half of the United States’ emission-free energy.
The NYT notes that the United States is not currently enriching uranium, since since the early 1990s, Washington began to buy fuel from Moscow at a low price, which was also a gesture of de-escalation of relations after the Cold War. The United States has completely stopped enriching uranium – only the European consortium Urenco (Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands) is engaged in this, which has an enterprise in Ohio, and Russian fuel eventually occupied half of the world market. About a third of the enriched uranium used in the US is still imported from Russia.
According to Kommersant’s information, in 2022 the United States reduced the purchase of uranium raw materials from Russia by 24% year-on-year, to 4.78 million pounds of U3O8-equivalent. The decrease in deliveries, according to analysts, could be due to a sharp rise in prices and the specifics of shipment schedules for long-term contracts. Uranium prices in 2022 rose to the highest since 2016, forcing US consumers to cut purchases by 13% overall. Experts note that Russia is still the leader in the supply of uranium enrichment services for American nuclear power plants. Due to geopolitical risks, Western buyers are trying to get away from Russian supplies, but this is hindered by the fact that the existing processing capacities are already fully loaded.
Read more in the material “Kommersant” “Serious Uranium”.
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