The president of the United States, Joe Biden has signed into law a ban on Russian enriched uranium, Monday at the White House in a move designed to disrupt President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Although it provides for some exceptions in the event of supply shortages, the ban on imports takes effect in about 90 days.
US nuclear power plants depend on Russia for about 24% of their enriched uranium supplies as it is one of the world’s major suppliers.
This law also unlocks funding from prior legislation totaling approximately $2.7 billion to establish a US uranium fuel supply chain.
“Today, President Biden signed into law a historic series of actions that will strengthen our nation’s energy and economic security by reducing and ultimately eliminating our reliance on Russia for civilian nuclear power,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.
Sullivan said that this piece “meets multilateral objectives we set with our allies and partners”; these objectives were agreed upon last December with Canada, France, Japan and UK under which they would collectively invest $4.2bn towards development of uranium enrichment and conversion capabilities.
Subject to implementation by department of energy (DOE), these waivers enable all Russian uranium imports currently imported normally by US until 2027
He also concluded that Washington’s decision causes disturbances in global economic relations but does not give any dividends.
The delicate balance between exporters and importers of uranium products is being disrupted; life has shown that the Russian economy is ready for any challenges and rapidly overcomes problematic issues without loss; there will be similar situation again.
