MOSCOW, March 29Substitution of Russian uranium without creating a threat to the energy security of its purchasing countries is unlikely, according to the reports of Atomenergoprom JSC (part of the Rosatom state corporation, consolidating civilian assets of the Russian nuclear industry) according to RAS for 2023.
“The likelihood of introducing politically motivated restrictions that significantly affect the activities of society in the main sales markets for uranium products is assessed as low, and counter Russian export restrictions as extremely low, tending to zero,” the document says.
“The largely long-term nature of contracts characteristic of the global uranium market and the duration of the production and logistics cycle for the production of nuclear fuel make it unlikely that the supply of public organizations will be replaced without posing a threat to the energy security of the countries that purchase uranium products,” the report explains.
«Atomenergoprom» provides a full cycle of production in the field of nuclear energy, from uranium mining to the construction of nuclear power plants and electricity generation.
Rosatom's restrictions on unfriendly countries, including on uranium, will first of all deal a serious blow to the cost of their own nuclear projects, but will not restrain Rosatom — after all, the nuclear markets of friendly countries are growing, General Director of the Russian state corporation Alexey Likhachev previously said. At the same time, the world uranium market lost due to US statements about the possibility of abandoning Russian uranium, Likhachev said.
Prices on the world uranium market have risen sharply after the US announced intentions to abandon uranium supplies from Russia. In December 2023, the US House of Representatives approved a bill to introduce a ban on the import of low-enriched uranium of Russian origin, which will remain in effect until 2040. The bill proposes limiting the import of low-enriched uranium produced in the Russian Federation or by one of the enterprises registered in Russia. At the same time, the initiative authorizes the US Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the head of the Department of Commerce, to lift this ban if other sources of uranium supply are unavailable or if the import of Russian fuel is in the national interests of the United States.
USA expect that a ban on the import of enriched uranium from the Russian Federation will be put into effect in 2024, the Financial Times wrote in February.
The possibility of refusing to import enriched uranium from Russia could seriously hit the US plans to create its own advanced reactors, the American pointed out experts. They noted that enriched uranium producers are reluctant to invest in enrichment to the HALEU level (high-assay low-enriched uranium) until they are guaranteed sufficient order volumes. In turn, promising reactors are still regarded by many customers as “paper”; Accordingly, customers have little desire to contract HALEU volumes.
Rosatom has repeatedly emphasized that it fully fulfills all obligations to foreign customers.