(MENAFN- Asia Times) Uranium enrichment and the nuclear fuel industry make up a globally integrated complex concentrated in the hands of a few key players. A geopolitically-driven divorce is on the horizon, however.
At the outset of the invasion of Ukraine last year, US Senator John Barrasso, a Republican of Wyoming, led
an effort to ban Russian-origin uranium and nuclear products following the West's break with the fossil fuel industries that had been filling the Kremlin's war chest.
The bill stalled, but it highlighted America's reliance on Russian nuclear imports and the need for a comprehensive supply chain rework. When countries are already scrambling to secure supply for nationally critical materials like rare earths or semiconductors, doing so for nuclear fuel – which powers one-fifth of US electricity generation– is not a bold proposition.
Rosatom, Russia's sprawling state-owned champion, dominates chokepoints in the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle – 38% of global uranium conversion and 46% of enrichment. This not only gives Moscow leverage over downstream“critical infrastructure” abroad but supports its wider energy statecraft agenda.
Since 2007, nuclear reactor exports have become a key channel in Russia's foreign influence strategy, accounting for about half of the 53 units under construction worldwide.
Additionally, leading US small-modular reactor companies like TerraPower and X-energy require high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) for their designs, and that is only commercially available from Russia.
The National Nuclear Security Administration has the ability to downblend weapons-grade material into HALEU for civil use but conflicting national security directives necessitate that it be considered a temporary solution at best.
This year, Barrasso is making more headway. The“Nuclear Fuel Security Initiative” (NFSI)
breezed
through the Senate as an amendment to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act rather than as a stand-alone bill.
This would allow Congress more discretionary authority to
ensure
that disruptions in the nuclear fuel supply chain neither (1) impact existing commercial reactor operations, nor (2) impede the development of advanced nuclear reactors.
A companion bill banning Russian uranium (with allowances through 2027) is working its way through the House.
![Splitting The Atom](https://menafn.com/updates/pr/2023-10/28/AT_8c335af9-c_Image_In_Body.jpg)
HALEU in the form of 30–40 kg ingots (photo 1) are recast in a multi-tier crucible system. Image: American Nuclear Society website
Opening the HALEU bottleneck is an acute priority, but the imperative should also address the broader, energy security implications of growing Russian and Chinese influence over Kazakhstan and its industry behemoth, Kazatomprom – the world's largest uranium miner.
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