Russia could cause problems for the US and EU regarding nuclear energy

The war in Ukraine has brought an interesting claim regarding atomic energy to the agenda.

Although the United States was the first to use the atom as a weapon, Russia is the country that dominates atomic energy today.

The US and Europe have cut off coal and oil imports from Russia, but there is still a dependency on Moscow for nuclear energy.

It has been suggested that there is a 50 percent probability that Russia, which supplies enriched uranium to nuclear power plants, could leave the US and Europe in the dark.

Allies plan to break Russia's dominance over nuclear fuel by 2028.

Attorney Abide Gülel, Board Member of the International Nuclear Law Association (INLA) and President of INLA Turkey, provided the following information regarding the delicate balance in nuclear energy:

THE US IS DEPENDENT ON RUSSIA FOR NUCLEAR ENERGY

“Shortly after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the US banned the import of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas, and coal.

However, not all energy sources were included in the sanctions by the US and its European allies. On the contrary, Western powers are careful not to disrupt the flow of raw materials and services from Russia's state-owned nuclear giant Rosatom and its subsidiary Tenex. Tenex holds a monopoly on the commercial sale of enriched uranium, known as HALEU, which is necessary to power the newest generation of reactors.

US nuclear power plants now import most of the uranium they use, and they source nearly half of their supply from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

More than one-fifth of the fuel used by the 93 nuclear reactors in the US is provided through enrichment contracts with Russian suppliers. The European Union has become even more dependent on Russia due to 18 Russian-made reactors in Finland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, which were dependent on Russian fuel until recently.

Russia is a dominant player, possessing nearly half of the world's commercial capacity. The US is worried that Russia could deprive them of this valuable fuel at any moment.

The US nuclear industry has now committed to ending its reliance on Russia's fuel enrichment and conversion services. Although phasing these out will take years, Congress is mulling over legislation that would ban imports from Rosatom and Tenex. The US nuclear industry expects a ban to be enacted this year. According to Congressional Budget Office estimates, this will increase fuel costs for US reactor operators by 13 percent.

THE CLEAN ENERGY EQUATION HAS BENEFITED RUSSIA

The war in Ukraine coincided with an increase in demand for nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. US President Joe Biden's climate team has described it as a key technology that could help the world reach the goals of the Paris Agreement. Washington had joined 21 countries, including the UK, France, and Japan, in pledging to triple nuclear capacity by 2050.

Although some major EU nuclear champions like France are not directly dependent on Russian fuel, many facilities in the east still need them, and reaching a consensus in the bloc to take action or impose a ban on materials from Moscow is not the starting point for now.

News Source: 12punto