Together with the G7 countries, the United States seeks to destroy the Russian monopoly. US President Joe Biden signed a law banning the import of Russian uranium imports into the country in order to end dependence on the Russian Federation in the field of nuclear energy.
This is stated in the statement of National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, published on the White House website. called this law “historic.”. He added that, at the request of the president Biden, Congress has appropriated $2.72 billion to start new uranium enrichment facilities in the United States.
The law will go into effect in 90 days, but it allows for exceptions in cases where the safety of reactors in the United States is at risk. According to the Energy Department, Russia supplied nearly a quarter of the enriched uranium used to power more than 90 U.S. commercial reactors, making it the No. 1 foreign supplier. Those sales brought Russia about $1 billion a year, and the White House said dependence on Russian sources of uranium “poses a risk to the U.S. economy.” At the same time, replacing these supplies can be a difficult task and lead to an increase in the cost of enriched uranium by 20%.
Recall that the nations that make up the “Great Seven” (G7) decided to work toward reducing their reliance on Russian goods to meet their nuclear energy needs.
Currently, the only commercial supplier of high-enriched, low-enriched uranium in the world is Rosatom, the nuclear giant of the Kremlin. This material is known as HALEU.
The British government wants to destroy the monopoly of the Russian Federation and will provide 246 million dollars to the British-Dutch-German consortium Urenco the second largest uranium enricher in the world for the construction of a HALEU production line at its plant in England.
Also Read
Russia has been accused of using chemical weapons in the Ukraine war
