Russia's nuclear fuel ban makes US energy markets nervous
Russia just blocked uranium exports to US nuclear plants which use quarter of Russian supplies for power generation. Western countries try to find quick solution while markets show first signs of instability
Last week Vladimir Putin made a bold move in energy markets blocking uranium exports to America‚ which brings new worries about nuclear fuel supply-chain stability
The US power sector depends on Russian uranium for about 25% of its needs (a left-over from post-cold-war cooperation) but experts say theres no need to worry right now since orders are made way ahead. Still Russian company Rosatom controls nearly half of worlds enrichment capacity; making it a key-player in global nuclear fuel markets
Raw uranium prices jumped from $76.50 to $82 per pound on monday which shows first market reaction to this news. Industry expert Andrei Listovsky pointed out that Russia might shift its focus to other countries: India Iran and China where Rosatom builds new reactors
- Britain
- United States
- Canada
- Japan
- France
These countries signed an agreement last winter to work on nuclear fuel production together but progress is slow – only one enrichment facility (run by Urenco) works in US now. The plant makes 1/3 of American reactor fuel and plans to grow its output by 15%
The uranium supply chain even when world trade was at its most liberal agreeable level was fragile
Industry sources say current stockpiles can handle loss of Russian supplies for now but this situation shows how much Western nations still rely on Moscow for this resource. Cameco a big uranium mining company thinks Western countries need to work together to fix this problem
