“We are talking about years, and success is not guaranteed.”
The United States nuclear industry has decided to end its “dependence” on Russian services for enrichment and conversion of nuclear fuel, reports the Financial Times . Congress is considering a bill to ban cooperation with Moscow in this area. We asked Alexander Uvarov, a nuclear energy specialist and head of the Atominfo Center, to comment on this message.
“The Americans need to replace 20 percent of the enriched uranium that comes from Russia,” says Alexander Uvarov. — They have a hundred power units, 20% is 20 power units. This is, let's say, a decent nuclear country in the top ten in the world. Of course, these supplies cannot be reimbursed quickly.
— Europeans can reimburse Russian supplies of enriched uranium relatively quickly. They have two manufacturers, the French and the URENCO concern, a third of which belongs to the Dutch government, a third to German energy companies, and a third to the British government. The French are not very keen to get involved in someone else's market. But URENCO has its own plant in the USA. In principle, this plant can begin to be expanded. These are European technologies. Formally, Americans should not even have access to them, because these are sensitive technologies from the point of view of nuclear weapons.
The expert believes that expanding the plant may require several billion euros and a number of years.
— It’s difficult to say how many years, because working with uranium, for many reasons, requires a lot of permitting procedures. After all the accidents at nuclear power plants, people are afraid of using uranium. Many people will have to prove that this is a safe production. Starting with the authorities of the state where this plant is located. We will have to convince them that this is beneficial for them and enlist their support. And, ending with supervisory services, including those related to environmental protection.
Alexander Uvarov notes that the nuclear regulator in the United States has a rather bureaucratic apparatus. It can consider requests and conduct hearings for years.
— As for the European territory of URENCO, this is where difficulties begin. Take Germany, it is an anti-nuclear country, it is closing its nuclear power plants, but at the same time, within the framework of this concern, it is enriching uranium. There is nothing to be surprised about, it’s all about money. But any attempt to expand the plant in Germany will cause opposition, because there are quite strong anti-nuclear sentiments in the country.
In Britain, as the expert says, everything could have been simpler, but it left the European Union, which entails certain difficulties in interacting with the British plant.
— Oddly enough, it turns out that it is easiest to expand the plant in Holland. What are they basically starting to talk about now? But Holland is a small country, and they also have their own thoughts on this matter. Therefore, most likely, they will try to expand the URENCO plant, which is located in the USA. It takes time.
This is the first approach. There is, as Alexander Uvarov says, a second one. The Americans could restore their industry.
— They, of course, have been talking about this for many years. Here it is worth remembering the intergovernmental agreement HEU-LEU (highly enriched uranium — low enriched uranium), which Yeltsin signed in 1993. Under this agreement, some of our weapons-grade uranium was diluted and supplied as fuel to US nuclear power plants. The Americans hoped to use the profits from this agreement to restore their uranium enrichment industry. But they successfully “wasted” this money; it disappeared in different directions.
The expert clarifies that the company that was supposed to do this went bankrupt and then renamed itself. And now she is making a second attempt.
“They are asking for money, but now it is no longer Russian money, but from the US budget. According to the latest data, they have only 18 centrifuges. This is very little — “a drop in the ocean.” But they will try to get money for this project. They have one very powerful ally. These are the American military, who for various purposes need to have American-made enriched uranium.
At the moment, as our interlocutor says, they still have such enriched American uranium in warehouses, but it is coming to an end.< /p>
— It is possible that the military will force American nuclear scientists to launch something, some small factory. Or maybe now Trump will win and everything will change in world politics.
Nuclear specialist Uvarov draws attention to the fact that the bill banning Russian enriched uranium is written in very interesting language.
— In accordance with this bill, if it is adopted, you cannot buy enriched uranium in Russia, but if you want, you can. The bill was written by a woman, a congresswoman. There is an article there that, if necessary, an American buyer can contact the appropriate government agency, apparently the US State Department, and obtain permission to purchase uranium in the same volumes as it was purchased before.
According to the expert, the Americans would like to do this; it would be useful for them to restore their capabilities. They believe that dependence on nuclear fuel from Russia threatens their national security. But, at the same time, they understand that this cannot be done quickly. We're talking about years. And success, as they say, is not guaranteed.
— Don’t forget that recently only we and the Chinese have undertaken major projects in nuclear energy. The rest have one problem, then a second, then a third. Many projects were not completed. If they succeed, it will not be until 2028.