U.S. bans Russian uranium imports, key to nuclear fuel supply

President Biden on Monday evening signed a bipartisan bill prohibiting Russian imports of enriched uranium, the main fuel used by nuclear power plants, a move intended to cut off one of the last significant flows of money from the United States to Russia amid the war in Ukraine.

Congress took swift action to ban Russian oil and gas imports a month after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. But sanctions on uranium imports have taken much longer, in part because Russia supplies roughly 20 percent of U.S. nuclear fuel, leading some lawmakers to fear disruptions to the nation’s 93 nuclear reactors.

“It’s kind of ridiculous that it took as long as it did to get to this stage,” said Scott Melbye, executive vice president of mining company Uranium Energy and president of the Uranium Producers of America, a trade group. “But we’re just glad that we got here.”

American companies pay around $1 billion a year for enriched uranium from Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear power conglomerate. These payments have continued even after documents revealed last year that Rosatom had been working to supply the Russian arms industry with components, technology and raw materials for missile fuel.

The bipartisan bill will ban uranium imports from Moscow beginning 90 days after its enactment. It will provide waivers until 2028 for utilities that would be forced to shut down nuclear reactors once Russian supplies are cut off. The bill also frees up $2.7 billion passed in previous legislation to build out the domestic uranium processing industry.

“This new law reestablishes America’s leadership in the nuclear sector,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement Monday. “It will help secure our energy sector for generations to come.”

The bill passed the House in December, but it had stalled for months in the Senate, where Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) had blocked the measure over unrelated disputes. In a development that surprised some observers, Cruz dropped his opposition last month, and the measure then passed the Senate by unanimous consent, meaning no senators objected to it.

“Russia’s choke hold on America’s uranium supply is coming to an end,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), a bill sponsor, said on the Senate floor on Wednesday. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war machine has now lost one of its cash cows. America is finally starting to take back our nuclear energy security as well as our energy future.”

Officials at the Department of Energy and the National Security Council had discussed the possibility of taking executive action to ban Russian uranium imports if Congress did not act, Bloomberg News reported. In an emailed statement, NSC spokesman Sean Savett said that “we share Congress’ concerns that the United States’ reliance on Russia for low-enriched uranium to support our domestic fleet of nuclear reactors is not in the national security or economic interests of the United States.”

Biden has set an ambitious goal of reaching 100 percent clean electricity by 2035. Nuclear reactors generate more than half of emissions-free electricity in the United States, and supporters say they can play a key role in the country’s transition away from fossil fuels.

Yet the U.S. nuclear power industry has recently faced financial challenges, including spiraling costs of the new modular designs it is testing. Those difficulties may continue even after companies are no longer reliant on imported uranium.

America’s dependence on Russian uranium dates back to a 1993 nuclear disarmament program soon after the Cold War ended. Under the program, dubbed Megatons to Megawatts, the United States bought 500 metric tons of uranium from dismantled Russian nuclear warheads and converted it to nuclear reactor fuel.

At the time, many policymakers in Washington hailed the deal as a win-win: Moscow got desperately needed cash in exchange for giving U.S. utilities cheap fuel and placating arms-control advocates. But today, some experts say the program had the unintended consequence of delivering such inexpensive Russian fuel that U.S. and European companies struggled to compete.

More than two years after Russia invaded Ukraine, the United States largely lacks its own uranium enrichment capacity. The nuclear energy company TerraPower, which was founded by Bill Gates, has been forced to delay the opening of a new nuclear plant by at least two years, in part because it has pledged not to use Russian enriched uranium.

The new legislation could help. It unlocks $2.7 billion in funding for domestic uranium enrichment that Congress conditionally approved in a spending bill last year. The funding could allow the company Centrus to expand its enrichment facility in Ohio with “thousands of additional centrifuges to replace Russian imports with American production,” spokeswoman Lindsey Geisler said in an email.

Jeff Navin, director of external affairs for TerraPower, which has signed an agreement with Centrus to collaborate on fueling its Natrium reactor in Wyoming, said in an email that the funding is “expected to spur job creation, technological advancement and boost the U.S. nuclear industry’s global competitiveness.”

In August, Biden established a new national monument near the Grand Canyon, putting the site off-limits to future uranium mining. The move did not affect an existing uranium mine owned by the company Energy Fuels, which recently ramped up work as growing demand and global instability pushed uranium prices higher.

Though some environmentalists support nuclear power, others say there are cheaper options and have voiced concerns that the country lacks a long-term plan for storage of nuclear waste. Still others have warned that radioactive dust from uranium mining could contaminate the drinking water of nearby communities.

Asked about these concerns, Curtis Moore, senior vice president of marketing and corporate development at Energy Fuels, said modern environmental regulations have made uranium mining much safer over the last half-century. He said the company’s mine near the Grand Canyon poses “zero” risk to water supplies.

“To oppose modern uranium mining is akin to opposing electric vehicles today because cars in the ‘50s didn’t have seat belts,” Moore said. “It’s really shortsighted. Uranium is absolutely essential to the fight against climate change.”