President Biden (D) on Monday signed into law a ban on importing Russian uranium beginning in 2028, the White House announced.
Under the bill, companies may no longer import unirradiated low-enriched uranium produced in Russia or by a Russian entity unless the importer gets a waiver from the Department of Energy. Waivers are only good through Dec. 31, 2027. After that, the ban, which had universal approval in the House and the Senate, will go into full force.
Russian uranium imports are a staple of the U.S. nuclear power industry and continued for years after Russia’s second 21st-century invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The White House and Congress have agreed for years since then that the U.S. should wean itself off Russian supplies, but the domestic industry had decayed since the end of the Cold War and the ensuing U.S. attempts to normalize relations with Russia.
The Biden administration wanted Congress to invest billions of dollars in revitalizing the U.S. uranium supply chain before cutting off Russia, but some lawmakers preferred to go cold turkey.
There were signs as early as October that the impasse was clearing.
That month, Senate lawmakers included billions of dollars of stimulus money for the uranium industry in a national security supplemental appropriations bill. The bill, which contained aid for Ukraine and Israel, passed the Senate right away but famously stalled in the House. Nevertheless, the lower chamber in December approved the Russian uranium ban on a voice vote.
Then, in March, as part of the appropriations package that funded the federal government through Sept. 30, the Biden administration got the investment it was after. With the House waffling on the foreign aid bill, Congress used the domestic budget bill to repurpose $3.7 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to support development of new reactors and uranium enrichment. Most of that would go toward enrichment.
In May, the Senate picked up the House’s uranium ban and, like the lower chamber, passed it unanimously.
Among the companies affected by the ban is Centrus Energy Corp., Bethesda, Md., which brokers Russian uranium to U.S. utilities.
“Prompt approval of waivers is critical not only to Centrus but to the entire U.S. nuclear industry,” the company wrote in a statement shared Monday via email by a spokesperson. “At the same time, we look forward to competing for the new funding so that we can construct new, American uranium enrichment capacity to meet our country’s long-term needs.”
Last week, Centrus said it planned to apply for a waiver quickly.
“When the legislation is enacted, we will apply for waivers from the Secretary of Energy and other applicable government agencies to request permission to continue supplying LEU to our customers,” Centrus wrote in its latest quarterly earnings press release. “The Company anticipates having adequate liquidity to support its business operations for at least the next 12 months.”
