In a Tuesday hearing, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) requested, but did not get, a promise from the Secretary of Energy that President Joe Biden (D) would follow rules in a House-passed bill if his administration bans imports of Russian uranium.
“If the administration does impose its own ban on Russian uranium imports, will you commit to adhere to the same limits and conditions and terms as found in the legislation … that’s passed the House?” Barrasso asked Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm during a hearing in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee about DOE’s 2025 budget request.
Barrasso referred to H.R.1042, the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act, which passed the full House unanimously in December on a voice vote. The bill would make imports of Russian uranium, still the major source of fuel for U.S. nuclear reactors, illegal by 2028.
Answering Barrasso, Granholm said “[w]e would abide whatever Congress passes, of course.” But as of Tuesday, the Senate, where some lawmakers have written their own bill to ban Russian uranium, had yet to give the House bill a hearing, let alone a vote.
A DOE spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request to clarify Granholm’s remarks to Barrasso.
The Biden administration as of Tuesday had not announced plans for a ban on Russian uranium, and Granholm told Barrasso during the hearing that she would prefer a new law to an executive ban.
“I agree with you,” Barrasso replied. “And I think so do the American nuclear fuel suppliers.”
Under the House-passed H.R. 1042, the Department of Energy could issue temporary waivers to companies that wish to continue imports until 2028.
That’s much more leeway than the Senate-authored S. 452, the Nuclear Fuel Security Act of 2023, would give. That bill, which Barrasso cosponsored but which the Senate has not voted on, would ban Russian uranium imports within a few months of becoming law.
Centrus Energy Corp., the former U.S. Enrichment Corp., is among the brokers of Russian uranium to U.S. nuclear power plant operators.
Imports of Russian uranium have largely continued for two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but lawmakers’ patience in the 118th Congress ran out.
Last year, some Democrats resisted banning Russian imports before Congress provided the billions of dollars Biden administration said was a prerequisite for going cold turkey on Russia. Eventually, though after the unanimous passage of H.R. 1042, most of that aid arrived as part of the bill that provided DOE’s budget for 2024.
