U.S. Senate passes bill to ban imports of enriched uranium from Russia. Ukraine's response

Bloomberg reported the information.

The Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act bans imports from the United States 90 days after its enactment, allowing temporary exemptions until January 2028. 

"Our bipartisan legislation will help defund Russia’s war machine, revive American uranium production, and jump-start investments in America’s nuclear fuel supply chain. This is a tremendous victory," said Senator John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming who championed the legislation in the Senate.

The legislation, which is set to expire at the end of 2040, allows the Energy Department to issue exemptions from the full volume of Russian uranium imports allowed under export restrictions set by an anti-dumping agreement between the Commerce Department and Russia through 2027.

It is possible that Russia will retaliate with a unilateral export ban if the US bans imports, which could immediately halt enriched uranium shipments from the country and make the waiver moot, Bloomberg writes.

An import ban would take some time to affect US nuclear power plant operators. Reactors are typically refueled every 18-24 months, and fuel purchases are negotiated long in advance. This means that most, but not all, utilities have already produced enough uranium to keep their reactors running for at least the next few years.

Ukraine's response

Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko called the decision historic and noted that sanctions against Rosatom are getting closer.

"This is a historic decision not only for such a powerful nuclear power as the United States, which will accelerate the development of the American uranium industry. This is a powerful signal to the entire civilized world that further cooperation in the nuclear and uranium industries with a terrorist country that has put the entire world under a nuclear threat is impossible. And this is another decisive step towards sanctions against Rosatom, which is actually financing the war against Ukraine," he wrote.

• On June 28, Ukraine discussed with the British company further reducing global dependence on nuclear fuel from Russia.
• On September 26, Viktoriia Voitsitska, MP, former Secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety, said that switching from Russian nuclear fuel to American Westinghouse would allow to have sufficient electricity generation at Ukrainian nuclear power plants.
• On December 12, the House of Representatives voted to restrict imports of enriched uranium to the United States from Russia.
• The US Department of Energy plans to increase production of low-enriched uranium to reduce dependence on Russia.