US bears costs due to dependence on Russian nuclear fuel
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The US government is bearing the cost of over-reliance on nuclear fuel from Russia, said White House nuclear adviser Pranay Waddy. According to him, this problem has affected the whole world. To solve it, it is planned to increase the production of enriched uranium at the Urenco plant in New Mexico, its chief executive officer Karen Fili said.
According to her, the planned increase in capacity at the plant should be completed in 2027. In combination with the increase in the capacity of Urenco’s parent plant in Europe, this should be enough to cover Rosatom’s share in the US market, the company expects.
Urenco is the only commercial supplier of enriched uranium in North America. As noted Bloomberg, the company’s plant in New Mexico covers about a third of the US needs for enriched uranium, they want to increase production by 15%. “The increase in Urenco’s production will be enough to cover any shortfall in Russian imports,” said Karen Fili.
However, Dan Poneman, former deputy head of the US Department of Energy, executive director of the corporation for the production of enriched uranium Centrus Energy, believes that increasing the capacity of the Urenco plant by 15% is not enough. “Non-Russian enriched uranium is not enough to power the world’s reactors,” Mr. Poneman is convinced.
Russia remains the leader in the supply of uranium enrichment services for US nuclear power plants. In 2022, the US reduced its purchases of uranium raw materials from Russia by 24% yoy 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.
Details – in the material “Kommersant” “Serious Uranus”.
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