United States aims to abandon Russian fuel: Congress passes bill

Bloomberg reports this.

The bill was passed by the Senate earlier and received the required number of votes in the House of Representatives. Now it must be signed by US President Joe Biden.

The provisions of the nuclear fuel law are part of a broader plan to restore the domestic uranium supply chain in the United States and gradually phase out imports from Russia, which is the largest foreign supplier of uranium to the United States.

The article states that the approved plans will require the US Department of Energy to purchase at least 20 metric tons of reactor fuel, known as HALEU, from US companies by the end of 2027. However, this multibillion-dollar funding for these efforts stalled in the Senate after Republicans blocked an aid bill for Ukraine that would have provided the funds. A bill to ban imports of Russian uranium after 2028 is currently under consideration in the Senate. 

• The day before, the coordinator of the National Security Council of the United States John Kirby again called on the Congress to take measures to allocate the funds necessary to continue to help Ukraine. He noted that this should be done by the end of the current calendar year.