US Bans Import of Russian Nuclear Fuel

President Joe Biden has signed into law a bipartisan proposal prohibiting the importation of Russian uranium into the United States.

HR1042 “will ban the import of Russian uranium and revive domestic nuclear fuel production by unlocking $2.72 billion recently appropriated by Congress, at the request of the President, to expand our domestic uranium enrichment and conversion capacity”, the DOE said in a statement.

The law takes effect August 11. However, operators of nuclear plants may seek permission from the energy secretary to be exempted from the ban if they can show they have no alternative sources. Such a waiver has annual aggregate limits—476,536 kilograms this year—and must expire by January 1, 2028.

“This announcement represents another decisive step forward by the Biden-Harris Administration to sever U.S. dependence on Russian material and secure a strong domestic fuel supply to support our Nation’s clean energy assets”, the DOE said.

House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who introduced the bill, said in a statement, “It is time for America to end its over reliance on Russia's uranium supply, which has stunted our domestic nuclear fuel infrastructure and poses a risk to our energy and national security”.

According to the latest annual report of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Russia accounted for 12 percent of the U.S. uranium imports in 2022. Neighboring Canada was the top supplier contributing 27 percent, followed by Kazakhstan at 25 percent. Uzbekistan accounted for 11 percent, while nine percent came from Australia, according to the report published June 13, 2023.

The DOE said the legislation will spur U.S. funding to meet the country’s commitment to a pledge of $4.2 billion public-private investment by leading economies to support uranium production.

“With the passage of this law this commitment has already been eclipsed in partnership with the efforts of France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Canada”, the DOE said.

These countries are parties to the Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy, an agreement among over 20 governments reached at COP28. The declaration plans to “invite shareholders of the World Bank, international financial institutions, and regional development banks to encourage the inclusion of nuclear energy in their organizations’ energy lending policies”, as stated in the official text.

The declaration will promote small modular and advanced reactors for electricity generation, as well as industrial-scale technology for decarbonization “such as for hydrogen or synthetic fuels production”, according to the text published by the DOE December 2, 2023.

Previously the U.S. signed bilateral partnerships concerning the nuclear supply chain and fusion research and development.

Last April the DOE and Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) agreed to cooperate on research and the development of the supply chain for the societal deployment of fusion energy. The agreement emanates from a 2013 agreement between the governments of Japan and the U.S. for research and development in science and technology (STA).

The partnership will “address the scientific and technical challenges of delivering commercially viable fusion energy for various fusion systems, through activities conducted pursuant to the STA”, according to a joint statement April 10, 2024.

The U.S. aims to have commercial-scale fusion power plants in the 2030s, as announced by the Biden administration April 19, 2022.

The U.S. had already claimed a breakthrough in research to achieve a self-sustaining nuclear fusion in which the mass lost in the reaction could be converted into large amounts of energy, a state of energy breakeven called ignition. On December 13, 2022, the government-run Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said an experiment it had conducted earlier that month achieved ignition, “meaning it produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it”.

The U.S. is also seeking to build nuclear energy cooperation with the European Union and the United Kingdom.

Last March at a meeting of the US-EU Energy Council, Washington and Brussels agreed to explore cooperation to curb the globe’s reliance on Russia in the nuclear energy supply chain.

“The United States and the EU intend to intensify cooperation to reduce dependency on Russia for nuclear materials and fuel cycle services, and support ongoing efforts by affected EU Member States to diversify nuclear supplies, as appropriate”, said a joint statement March 15. “The Council expressed support for multilateral efforts to identify alternative nuclear energy-related suppliers across the global nuclear supply chain for relevant countries”.

Last November 8, 2023, the energy departments of the UK and the U.S. announced a pact on cooperation to accelerate the commercial deployment of fusion energy through research and development projects, supply chain development, regulatory framework harmonization and skills development.

Like the U.S., the UK is targeting to have commercial-scale fusion power plants in the 2030s, as set out in the UK’s Fusion Strategy.

To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com