The Financial Times newspaper writes that the United States is actively looking for ways to stop depending on Russian uranium in the future. At the same time, global demand for nuclear energy is growing and Washington is now trying to break Moscow’s dominance in the nuclear fuel market.
The United States has not yet imposed sanctions on Russian nuclear fuel, unlike sanctions on Russian oil and gas. The reason is Russia’s dominant position in uranium enrichment. The Russian state nuclear giant and its subsidiary Tenex will therefore continue to export nuclear fuel, the Financial Times reported.
Nearly a fifth of the fuel for European and US nuclear power plants comes from Russia. Washington believes that the excessive dependence of the United States and other Western countries on Russian nuclear fuel endangers national security.
US companies have now stockpiled nuclear fuel for two years, in case supplies from Russia were interrupted. Washington, meanwhile, is trying to rebuild a supply chain that collapsed after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
“We had a huge supply chain before the Fukushima disaster destroyed that market,” said Daniel Poneman, former head of U.S. nuclear fuel company Centrus Energy Corp.
The nuclear fuel supply chain begins with uranium mining. U.S. plants import most of the uranium they use. In the West, only two companies are engaged in uranium enrichment, the French Orano and the British, German and Dutch consortium Urenco.
Due to the collapse of supply chains, the West’s dependence on Russia has increased. For example, Rosatom’s Tenex subsidiary produces the world’s only nuclear fuel called Haleu, composed of uranium enriched between 5 and 20%. This fuel can be used, for example, by new generation small modular reactors.
Poneman said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has turned the entire market upside down and that Washington needs to reboot the sector. Although it will take years, Congress is already considering legislation to ban imports of Rosatom and Tenex.
The United States is now planning to support its domestic nuclear industry, as are France, Canada, Japan and Britain. Countries are planning to build more nuclear power plants and are exploring the possibility of introducing small modular reactors. Entrepreneurs like Bill Gates support startups developing modular reactors.
Therefore, the demand for uranium and nuclear fuel is increasing, the price of uranium has risen to the highest since the beginning of 2021. Analysts note that rising costs and high interest rates could hinder the development of nuclear energy.
The Biden administration now plans to subsidize domestic industry, engage international partners and impose sanctions on Russian imports. Kathryn Huff, a senior official at the US Department of Energy, said this strategy is vital to national security.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Energy co-financed a pilot project for the domestic production of Haleu-type fuel.
At the same time, Western countries are trying to reduce emissions and are looking for alternatives to fossil fuels. More than 20 countries recently pledged to triple nuclear energy production by 2050. US climate czar John Kerry has said the world will not reach climate neutrality without building new nuclear reactors.
2024-01-22 16:47:00
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