Ari Natter and Jenny Leonard report that the U.S. Commerce Department has recommended the White House take steps to protect the domestic production of uranium after finding the nation’s reliance on imports was a national security risk, said three people briefed on the matter. Among the trade remedies recommended is to require nuclear power plants to purchase a minimum of 5% of the radioactive fuel from U.S. mines, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss non-public deliberations. Two of the people said an option under consideration would see the quota escalate by 5 percentage points a year.
A decision to impose the quotas would be a boon to the two small mining companies that petitioned the Commerce Department to take action, Energy Fuels Inc. and Ur-Energy Inc. The move would increase costs for nuclear plant operators that are already struggling in the face of competition from cheaper sources of power generated by natural gas and renewables, [although the nuclear fuel costs are only a small percentage of the total cost of nuclear plant operations].
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who met with Trump on Thursday, was expected to make the case against import quotas on uranium, which his country produces in the Athabasca Basin and elsewhere (more). The U.S. uranium industry produced roughly 700,000 pounds in 2018, according to Chris Gadomski, a nuclear industry analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. A 5% quota would translate to between 2 million and 2.5 million pounds, he said.
The two miners who petitioned for the case have already begun expanding their mines in anticipation of a favorable decision.
Executives from both companies said in a statement they were pleased “the administration continues to recognize the unique national, energy and economic security role of domestic uranium production.” “We continue to believe that reserving 25% of domestic demand for U.S. uranium is the most effective tool for sustaining domestic production of this critical mineral,” they said.
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
