Tanks filled with enriched uranium ready for shipment are seen Tuesday, July 11, 2023, at the Urenco USA uranium enrichment facility near Eunice, New Mexico. .
Mark Felix | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The U.S. Department of Energy says the U.S. will ban imports of Russian uranium from August 11 declare Tuesday.
Russian control nearly half The country supplies half of the world’s enriched uranium and about a quarter of U.S. supplies, according to the U.S. Department of Energy Enriched uraniumused to power the country 94 nuclear reactors.
this prohibitPresident Joe Biden signed into law on Monday also freed up $2.72 billion in federal funds to expand the country’s uranium industry.
Exchange-traded funds tracking uranium prices rose slightly after the news. Global X Uranium ETF and Sprott Uranium Mining ETF Prices were trading up about 1% on Tuesday.
Because a ban could harm U.S. reactor supplies, the law allows some exemptions for utility companies that would otherwise be forced to shut down reactors. However, all exemptions will end on or before January 1, 2028.
“Our nation will no longer be dependent on Russian imports for its clean energy future,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. “We are investing in a secure nuclear fuel supply chain in the United States.”
The United States continues to import more than 20% That Enriched uranium From Russian state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom Sanctioned More than 35 of the company’s subsidiaries have closed since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the latest move marked an end to the U.S.’s reliance on Russian commodities.
“Banning imports of Russian uranium will boost the U.S. nuclear fuel industry, further defund the Russian war machine and help revive U.S. uranium production for decades to come,” Barrasso said in a statement. statement Monday after the bill was enacted.
In response to Biden signing the ban, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said in a statement postal Telegram said this was another “failed” attempt by the Biden administration to “inflict a strategic economic failure on us.”
“The current attack is not only targeting Russia, but also targeting the world’s nuclear power plant uranium fuel market, which is bringing new impacts to international economic relations,” he said. “The delicate balance between uranium product exporters and importers is being broken.”
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