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Russia will temporarily limit exports of enriched uranium to the US, creating potential supply risks for utilities that use nuclear power to generate almost a fifth of the country’s electricity.
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Bloomberg News
Jonathan Tirone and Ari Natter
Published Nov 15, 2024 • 2 minute read
(Bloomberg) — Russia will temporarily limit exports of enriched uranium to the US, creating potential supply risks for utilities that use nuclear power to generate almost a fifth of the country’s electricity.
The Russian government didn’t provide details of the restrictions or their duration in a statement on Telegram on Friday. Utilities tend to make purchases well in advance, so any impact is unlikely to be immediate.
But the move targets a particularly vulnerable US link in the nuclear fuel cycle — the enrichment process that separates the uranium isotopes needed in reactors. Russia controls almost half the world’s capacity and last year supplied more than a quarter of the US’s enriched fuel.
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“There would be some utilities maybe that would be expecting that material and now might not get it,” said Jonathan Hinze, the president of UxC, which tracks uranium-fuel markets. While most deliveries have already been made this year, a ban could have implications from 2025, leaving some without an alternative supplier, he said.
While the Biden administration has launched a multibillion-dollar effort to restart the nation’s domestic uranium enrichment capabilities, the effort is still in its nascent form. The US now has just one commercial enrichment facility in New Mexico, owned by Urenco Ltd., a British, Dutch and German consortium.
“We don’t have enough enriched uranium here,” Chris Gadomski, head nuclear analyst for BloombergNEF, said in an interview. “They should have been stockpiling enriched uranium in anticipation of this happening.”
Russia said the move was a response to a ban imposed by the US on imports of Russian enriched uranium, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in May, but allowed for shipments to continue until 2028 under a system of waivers.
The US has allowed the Energy Department to issue waivers authorizing the entire volume of Russian uranium imports allowed under export limits set in an anti-dumping agreement between the Department of Commerce and Russia through 2027.
Among the recipients of waivers to import Russian reactor fuel are Constellation Energy Corp. and Centrus Energy Corp. with more requests pending.
Shares of uranium or uranium-related companies rose Friday, including Ur-Energy, Inc., Uranium Energy Corp. and Cameco Corp.
—With assistance from Áine Quinn.
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