US wants to abandon Russian nuclear fuel
The United States intends to abandon Russian uranium and is looking for an alternative contractor, RIA Novosti reports with reference to Reuters
Information about the US decision is reported by Reuters, citing a statement from the country’s Energy Ministry.
“The only company currently selling commercial shipments of HALEU is TENEX, part of Russia’s state-owned energy company Rosatom,” the publication reads.
The American department is known to have allocated about $500m for the production of HALEU and is now studying the possibility of increasing funding for the project.
The source also indicates that experts on nuclear proliferation have already warned: increasing dependence on this resource in the world could cause nuclear instability, because this fuel is close to the material required for the production of nuclear weapons.
In October 2023, the US tripled the volume of uranium purchases to reach 43.25 tonnes, according to the calculations based on American statistics.
In total, the US bought almost 176 tonnes of uranium worth $300m. The largest supplier was the UK, selling 98.3 tonnes for $177.4m. Although in September 2023 there were no supplies for the US at all.
