US probes uranium imports from China, amid concerns over Russian ban

WASHINGTON - The US government is probing whether China is supporting Russia’s nuclear industry by importing enriched uranium from its neighbour and exporting its own production to the US, which recently banned Russian uranium imports, Reuters has learned.

US House lawmakers passed the ban on Russian enriched uranium in December 2023, as part of a US effort to disrupt President Vladimir Putin’s ability to fund Russia’s war on Ukraine.

That month, shipments of enriched uranium from China to the US shot to 242,990 kilograms, according to data from the US International Trade Commission.

The imports are significant because from 2020 to 2022 China did not send any enriched uranium to the US.

In May 2024, the month that US President Biden signed the ban, China again sent the US a large amount of uranium - this time totaling 123,894 kilograms.

The US Department of Energy “along with other relevant agencies is closely tracking imports from China to ensure the proper implementation of the recently enacted Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act,” a department spokesperson said, a development that has not been previously reported.

US officials are watching the imports from China and other countries to “ensure they are not importing Russian uranium as part of a scheme to export material produced domestically that they would otherwise have used in their own reactors,” the spokesperson said.

There was no immediate response from the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing to a request for comment.

Russia is the world’s largest exporter of enriched uranium. Imports to the US from Russia through July this year stood at 313,050 kilograms, down 30 per cent from 2023. The ban allows some Russian imports to continue until 2028 if there are supply concerns.

Any circumvention of the ban could undermine the US effort to eventually eliminate dependence on Russian fuel for its nuclear power industry, the biggest in the world. It could also weaken the Biden administration’s attempts to jumpstart a domestic uranium supply chain, as the ban unlocked US$2.72 billion (S$3.5 billion) in public funds to do so.

China’s imports of Russian enriched uranium soared in 2022 and 2023, according to data published by the World Bank. While China is building more reactors that will need a steady supply of uranium, the supplies from Russia could also help it export the fuel, analysts say.

“As China may be seeking to carve out a greater role for itself in world enriched uranium markets, increased imports of Russian enriched uranium may facilitate the pursuit of Beijing’s ambitions,” said a report in March by the London-based Royal United Services Institute think-tank.

‘Gaming the ban’

The imports from China are cause for concern for the US uranium industry. In June, Centrus - a company developing enriched uranium capacity - urged the US Trade Representative (USTR) in public comments to raise the tariff rate on enriched uranium from China from 7.5 per cent to 20 per cent, saying that the company’s own efforts “could be threatened by imports of enriched uranium from China.”

The Uranium Producers of America industry group urged USTR in public comments to increase the rate up to 50 per cent.

Asked for comment, the USTR, which finalised increases on tariffs on some other goods last week but not on uranium from China, referred to a document that said China’s share of US imports of uranium and other materials were small and declining.

Mr Jon Indall, counsel for UPA, said his group met in July with the US Commerce Department on concerns that the imports from China represent a circumvention of the ban on Russian uranium.

“Gaming the ban is what we are concerned about,” Mr Indall said. “We would not like to see that we turn off the Russian tap and all of a sudden we see all this material coming from China.”

“We’re worried about circumvention of the ban,” by China, said Mr Indall. “We asked Commerce to take a look at this.”

The Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Russian state nuclear company Rosatom did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In May, Rosatom said that the ban would undermine the global market for enriched uranium but that it would continue to develop its global business.

Moscow had been publicly quiet about the ban until Sept 11 when President Putin said Moscow should consider limiting exports of uranium, and other metals in retaliation for Western sanctions. REUTERS