Catch 235: How US prostrates in front of Russia for fuel Uranium to keep the lights on

The United States of America, it seems, is playing both the arsonist and the firefighter in Ukraine’s war with Russia as the latter emerged as the biggest exporter of fuel Uranium to the closest Kiev ally. According to reports, through the first 11 months of 2023, US paid Russia $1,017 billion for fuel Uranium imports. The US gets Uranium from four countries, namely Russia, UK, Belgium and Japan. Reports suggested that as of 11 November, 2023, the US purchased fuel Uranium from these four in the following order: Russia ($96 million); a quarter of the supply ($1 million) from the UK; 4 per cent (nearly $48,6 million ) from Japan; and Belgium accounted for 22 per cent worth $44 million USD. Akin to situation decades before Ukraine war, Russia, in November 2023, again became the US’ number one supplier of enriched Uranium supplies. According to the US statistical agency, Russia exported Uranium worth $96 million to the US. In the previous few months, Russia ranked second to fourth in terms of Uranium supplies to the US. It is worth mentioning that the US remained heavily dependent on enriched Uranium from Russia even after latter began invasion of Ukraine. Why US imports Uranium from Russia? For decades, Russia has been sending almost a quarter of the nuclear fuel that are being used in the America’s commercial reactor fleet. The US uses Russian-enriched Uranium to fuel its 92 commercial nuclear reactors and escaped legislative action till December 2022 when the US House of Representatives passed a ban on purchase of Russian Uranium “to add pressure on Moscow for its war on Ukraine”. As per experts, Russia is the only commercially available source of special highly enriched reactor fuel known as Haleu, that is being used in a new breed of advanced nuclear reactors that are under development. US trying hard to cut down on Russian Uranium US now wants to cut its dependency on Russia for Uranium. In December last year, the US House of Representatives passed a ban on imports of Russian Uranium as lawmakers wanted to add more pressure on Moscow for its war on Ukraine. The bill is waiting for its passage in the Senate and signature by Presideny Joe Biden before becoming a law. The bill if approved would ban the imports 90 days after enactment, subject to the waivers. The bill waivers allow the import of low-enriched Uranium from Russia if the US energy secretary determines there is no alternative source available for operation of a nuclear reactor or a US nuclear energy company, or if the shipments are in the national interest. Allowed imports of Russian Uranium under the waiver would be gradually reduced to 459 metric tons in 2027 from about 476.5 tons in 2024.