URNM - Nuclear Power Renaissance Runs Parallel to US-Russia Race for Geopolitical Influence | Benzinga
Source: McAlinden Research 06/03/2024
As nuclear power facilities and uranium become deeply involved in the struggle for global influence, McAlinden Research examines how this may impact global uranium supply and uranium ETFs.
The nuclear power renaissance that has been unfolding throughout the world for several years is now blooming a new race for influence in deploying a crop of new reactors across the world. Though a renewed interest in nuclear power stretches back beyond the initiation of Russia's formal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, this event sent shockwaves across global energy markets and reshaped global shipments of oil and natural gas. Not only did it serve as a stark reminder of how significant nuclear power can be in bolstering power grids in the face of geopolitical upheaval, but it has gradually frozen the flow of energy products from Russia to the West. Though it has taken longer to reach uranium than other commodities, the building East-West tensions are beginning to envelop the yellow metal as well.
Last month, President Biden signed The Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act, which will initiate the phase-in of a ban on the import of Russian Uranium to the U.S. Though some waivers will be available until 2028, the ban will then be in full effect until 2040. MRP first highlighted the progress of this legislation last August, before it had even been passed by the House of Representatives.
We, The U.S., relied on Russian supplies for about 24% of its enriched uranium demand in 2022 — making it the U.S.'s top foreign supplier for the year. Part of that is simply due to the scale of Russia's state-owned uranium giant, Rosatom, which claims to lead the world in uranium enrichment and rank third in uranium production and fuel fabrication. The White House had previously rolled out a spate of sanctions against Rosatom subsidiaries, but this appears to have done little to halt imports of Russian uranium thus far.
In 2023 alone, the U.S. nuclear industry paid over $800 million to Rosatom and its fuel subsidiaries. The bill also unlocked $2.7 billion in repurposed funding for domestic production of high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU), which was contingent upon the U.S. federal government instituting their new ban on Russian uranium imports. Russia is currently the sole commercial supplier of HALEU, which will be critical to operating the next generation of small modular reactors, but U.S. firms are now having success in deploying small batches of their own supply.
Just weeks after Biden inked his signature on the import ban, Russia took the unprecedented step of signing on with Uzbekistan to assist in building Central Asia's first operational nuclear power plant last week. Uzbekistan and its neighbor Kazakhstan have served as critical miners and exporters of the yellow metal for many years but have not had access to their own facilities to utilize refined fuels derived from uranium — aside from a prototype in the latter nation, which was shuttered in 1999. Kazakhstan may revive nuclear power in the nation with the eventual construction of its own power plant, but such a ...