U.S., Russia agree to extend limits on Russian uranium imports

The U.S. Commerce Department and the Russian government have agreed to extend for 20 years limits on imports of Russian uranium, the Trump administration announced Tuesday in a move it said would benefit American miners and others in the domestic nuclear industry.

The agreement with Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom extends through 2040 a previous agreement that was set to expire at the end of the year. If that had occurred, it “would have resulted in unchecked imports of Russian uranium,” the Commerce Department said in a statement.

“Today’s landmark agreement will contribute to the revitalization of American nuclear industry, while promoting America’s long-term strategic interests,” Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said.

Under the agreement, U.S. imports of uranium from Russia will be reduced from 20% of U.S. enrichment demand to an average of 17% over next 20 years, and no higher than 15% starting 2028, according to the department.

“What they got out of the deal as assurance of a stable relationship for many years to come,” Ross said during an interview on Bloomberg Television. The alternative to the agreement could have resulted in tariffs and quotas and other remedial measures being imposed on Russia, he said. “What it gives everybody on both sides is what are the rules of the game.”

The Trump administration last year rejected a request by two mining companies—Energy Fuels Inc. and Ur-Energy Inc—to put a cap on uranium imports on national security grounds.

About 90% of the U.S.’s uranium—used to power nuclear reactors and submarines as well as to make nuclear weapons—is imported from countries such as Canada, Kazakhstan, Australia, and Russia, according to Energy Department data.