How Much Does The US Depend On Russian Uranium?

Statistics from the US Energy Information Administration have revealed how much the US depends on Russian uranium, with it accounting for nearly 25%.

A restriction on the importation of Russian uranium was just passed by the US House of Representatives. Before becoming law, the bill needs to pass the Senate.

After the Suez Canal incident, the Panama Canal is facing a similar situation, with ships now paying tolls almost eight times higher due to drought.

Bruno Venditti of Visual Capitalist uses statistics from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) to illustrate how dependent the US is on Russian uranium.

U.S. Suppliers of Enriched Uranium

The United States placed restrictions on Russian-produced gas and oil when Russia invaded Ukraine, yet imports of Russian-enriched uranium continue.

At the moment, Russia is the United States’ main foreign source of nuclear fuel. Nearly 25% of the enriched uranium used to power America’s fleet of more than 90 commercial reactors came from Russia in 2022.

The majority of the remaining uranium is imported from European nations, but some are manufactured in the United States by Urenco, a British-Dutch-German consortium.

In a similar vein, around a dozen nations worldwide—many of whom are NATO members and allies of Ukraine—rely on Russia for more than half of their enriched uranium needs.

The nuclear energy business in the United States paid Russia’s state-owned Rosatom and its fuel subsidiaries more than $800 million in 2023 alone.

It is significant to remember that nuclear power generates 19% of the nation’s electricity.

The United States began relying on down-blended supplies of weapons-grade uranium from the Soviet era rather than its enrichment capabilities in the 1990s, which is when the country first became dependent on Russian fuels.

The Biden administration intends to set aside $2.2 billion for the growth of uranium enrichment plants in the United States as part of the new uranium ban measure.