On May 13, 2024, President Biden signed H.R. 1042, the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act, into law. This bipartisan legislative action bans the import of Russian uranium products into the United States starting from August 12, 2024. The law also establishes a waiver process with the Department of Energy, in consultation with the Departments of State and Commerce, which will be in effect until January 1, 2028.
This prohibition is part of the United States' ongoing effort to reduce and ultimately eliminate its dependence on Russian uranium for civil nuclear power reactors. Russia continues to use its military-industrial base in its war against Ukraine and to undermine international and U.S. national security, partly through proceeds from its uranium exports.
Furthermore, Russian entities responsible for uranium exports are part of the State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom), which also oversees aspects of Russia’s nuclear weapons complex. The proceeds from Russian uranium exports enrich Rosatom and risk enhancing Russia’s nuclear weapons program. This poses an ongoing and serious threat to the national security of the United States. Since February 2022, over 35 Rosatom subsidiaries and related individuals have been sanctioned by the United States under Executive Order 14024.
The Russian Federation has demonstrated through its actions that it is willing to weaponize economic relationships. This makes continued reliance on Russian uranium products a threat to U.S. energy and economic security due to dependence on an insecure source or supply of uranium needed for domestic nuclear energy.
With bipartisan support from Congress, this law releases $2.72 billion in appropriated funds to the Department of Energy for investment in domestic uranium enrichment. This advances a secure and resilient global nuclear energy fuel supply consistent with our international obligations. These obligations include our commitment with the G7 in June 2022 to reduce reliance on Russian civil nuclear and related goods.
In addition, this law supports our COP 28 commitments under the Sapporo 5 grouping, which includes Canada, France, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The commitment involves investing $4.2 billion to expand enrichment and conversion capacity and separately joining the Multinational Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy Capacity by 2050.
The bipartisan act that President Biden has signed into law, along with the funding in the FY24 budget, provides assurance to industry, allies, and partners that the United States is committed to establishing a secure nuclear fuel supply chain, independent of adversarial influence, for decades to come.
