US senators propose ban on uranium imports from Russia

A group of US senators from the Republican and Democratic parties introduced a bill to ban the import of Russian uranium. This is stated in the message of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

“The American nuclear industry is ready to abandon Russian uranium. Wyoming has the resources needed to increase production at home. The first step is to remove all Russian energy, including uranium, from the US market forever,” said Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso.

"This bill will ensure that American nuclear energy companies will not depend on uranium fuel imported from RUSSIA," said committee chairman, Democrat Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Plans to reduce US dependence on Russian uranium were reported by BLOOMBERG in June 2022. At that time, the Ministry of Energy was trying to get congressmen to approve a plan to buy enriched uranium directly from American producers. it was proposed to allocate $4.3 billion for these purposes.

On March 8 last year, the United States imposed a ban on the import of energy resources from Russia - oil , oil products, coal and liquefied gas, while uranium was not subject to sanctions . In March, REUTERS explained this by saying that the country's energy security depends on supplies from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia - they produce about half of the uranium consumed by American nuclear power plants. In 2021, the United States imported $670 million worth of enriched uranium and radioactive isotopes from Russia.

In March, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the government was considering a ban on uranium supplies to the United States in response to sanctions.