US examines China's possible role in circumventing ban on enriched uranium imports from Russia

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The Biden administration is investigating the reasons for a sharp increase in enriched uranium imports from China since late 2023. As Reuters has learned, this is happening amid concerns that enriched uranium supplies are helping Moscow circumvent a US ban on imports of fuel for power plants from Russia.

The House of Representatives imposed a ban on Russian enriched uranium imports in December 2023 as part of U.S. efforts to limit the Kremlin’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine. That same month, China’s enriched uranium shipments to the U.S. rose to 242,990 kilograms (535,700 pounds), according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.

China did not ship enriched uranium to the United States from 2020 to 2022.

In May of this year, when the document banning imports of Russian uranium was signed by President Biden, China again sent a significant amount of uranium – 123,894 kilograms – to the United States.

Russia is the world's largest exporter of enriched uranium. Its import from Russia to the United States for the period up to July of this year amounted to 313,050 kilograms, which is 30% less than last year. The ban allows resorting to imports from Russia until 2028 in the event of supply problems.

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Any circumvention of the ban could undermine U.S. efforts to wean itself off Russian fuel. It could also weaken the Biden administration's efforts to jump-start a domestic uranium supply chain, as the ban has freed up $2.72 billion in government funds for that purpose.

Department of Energy “along with other relevant agencies, we are closely monitoring imports from China to ensure proper implementation of the recently enacted Russian Uranium Import Ban Act,” a department spokesman said.

U.S. officials are monitoring imports from China and other countries to “ensure they are not importing Russian uranium,” he explained.

China's imports of Russian enriched uranium are set to increase sharply in 2022 and 2023, according to data released by the World Bank. As China builds more reactors that will need a steady supply of uranium, supplies from Russia could help fuel Chinese fuel exports, analysts say.

“As China may seek to carve out a larger share of global enriched uranium markets, increased imports of Russian enriched uranium could help Beijing realize its ambitions,” the London-based Royal United Services Institute said in a March report.

For the U.S. uranium industry, imports from China are cause for concern. In June, Centrus, a company developing enriched uranium production facilities, called on the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to raise the tariff rate on enriched uranium from China from 7.5 percent to 20 percent, saying the company's efforts “could be jeopardized by the import of enriched uranium from China.”

The industry group Uranium Producers of America called on the USTR to raise the rate to 50 percent.

Prepared by: Sergey Daga