Ooops.
Calling out Donald Trump’s hypocrisy, Russian President Vladimir Putin asserted that the US continues to purchase uranium from Russia, key to producing nuclear reactor fuel, while pressuring India to stop energy imports from Moscow. In an exclusive interview with India Today, Putin, who arrived in New Delhi for a two-day visit, emphasised that India should enjoy the same privilege if the US had the right to purchase fuel from Russia.
The US continues to buy nuclear fuel from us for their nuclear power plants. That is also fuel. Energy. This is uranium for nuclear power plants that are functioning in the US,” Putin said in the interview ahead of his first visit to India in four years.
Russia is the second-largest supplier of enriched uranium to the US, accounting for about 25% of the sales. It is expected to pocket around $1.2 billion from uranium sales to America this year. In 2024, Russia earned approximately $800 million from uranium exports to the US.
Russia has roughly 44% of the world’s uranium enrichment capacity and supplies approximately 35% of our imports for nuclear fuel.
We recognize that a transition away from Russian-sourced fuel will not happen overnight.
The Department of Energy estimates that U.S. utilities have roughly three years of LEU available through existing inventory or pre-existing contracts. To ensure our plants do not experience any disruptions, we’re creating a waiver process to allow some imports of LEU from Russia to continue for a limited time.
In the meantime, we’re taking aggressive steps to establish a secure and reliable uranium supply market.
The passage of this ban unlocks the $2.72 billion Congress recently appropriated to increase production of LEU and high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) to support existing and new advanced nuclear reactors.
In 2023, the United States imported U3O8 and equivalents primarily from Canada, Australia, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. The origin of U3O8 used in U.S. nuclear reactors could change in the coming years. In May 2024, the United States banned imports of uranium products from Russia beginning in August, although companies may apply for waivers through January 1, 2028.
The President signed H.R. 1042, the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act, into law May 13, 2024. This bipartisan legislative action prohibits the import of Russian uranium products into the United States as of August 12, 2024, while enabling a waiver process with the Department of Energy, in consultation with the Departments of State and Commerce, through January 1, 2028, consistent with the law.
This prohibition supports the United States’ ongoing effort to reduce and ultimately eliminate our dependence on Russian uranium for civil nuclear power reactors by prohibiting uranium product imports from the Russian Federation. Russia continues to use its military-industrial base in its war against Ukraine and to undermine international and U.S. national security, in part, with proceeds from its uranium exports.
Additionally, Russian entities responsible for uranium exports are part of the State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom), which is also responsible for aspects of Russia’s nuclear weapons complex. Proceeds from Russian uranium exports enrich Rosatom and risk enhancing Russia’s nuclear weapons program, which poses an ongoing and serious threat to the national security of the United States. Since February 2022, the United States has sanctioned over 35 Rosatom subsidiaries and related individuals under Executive Order 14024.