Ending Dependence on Russia’s Nuclear Sector

[Marlin]

Ending Dependence on Russia’s Nuclear Sector

https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2024/02/18/ending-dependence-on-russias-nuclear-sector/

[Mounder]

U.S. Department of Commerce Finalizes 20-Year Amendment to the Suspension Agreement on Uranium from the Russian Federation
Trade enforcement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Office of Public Affairs
(202) 482-4883

“This landmark agreement will contribute to the revitalization of American nuclear industry, while promoting America’s long-term strategic interests,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “It represents yet another success for the Trump Administration’s America First approach to international trade agreements.”

The amendment is unchanged from a draft amendment released for public comment on September 11, 2020. The amendment will:

Extend the life of the agreement. Previously, the agreement was set to expire on December 31, 2020 – which would have resulted in unchecked imports of Russian uranium, potentially decimating the front-end of the nuclear fuel cycle in the United States.  The amended agreement will not expire until 2040 at the earliest.
Reduce U.S. imports of uranium from Russia. Prior to the amendment, the Agreement allowed Russian uranium exports to meet approximately 20% of U.S. enrichment demand.  Under the amended Agreement, this figure will drop to an average of approximately 17% over the next 20 years, and will be no higher than 15% starting in 2028.
Strengthen existing protections for the U.S. commercial enrichment industry. By extending and reducing the Agreement’s export limits, the final amendment will enable the U.S. commercial enrichment industry to compete on fair terms.
Establish unprecedented protections for U.S. uranium miners and the U.S. uranium converter. Previously, the Agreement allowed Russia to use its entire export quota for the sale of not only enrichment, but also natural uranium and conversion (i.e., a process for converting natural uranium so that it is suitable for enrichment). By contrast, the amended Agreement will allow only a portion of the export quota to be used for the sale of natural uranium and conversion from Russia. On average, this portion will be equivalent to approximately 7% of U.S. enrichment demand, and no higher than 5% starting in 2026.
Fix “returned feed” provisions in the existing Agreement that prejudice U.S. uranium miners and the U.S. converter. Under the previous Agreement, foreign-origin returned feed (i.e., natural uranium delivered by U.S. customers to the Russian exporter, in exchange for enriched uranium) could be delivered to the Russian exporter, enriched in Western Europe, and then exported to the United States outside the Agreement’s export limits. The amended Agreement would subject the foreign-origin returned feed that is enriched in third countries and exported back to the United States to the Agreement’s export limits, thereby encouraging the competitiveness of U.S.-origin natural uranium.
Allow for the fulfillment of U.S. customers’ pre-existing contracts for Russian uranium. There are U.S. companies that entered into contracts to purchase uranium from Russia prior to and around the time that Commerce engaged in negotiations to extend the Agreement beyond 2020.  The limits in the agreement are structured to enable the vast majority of these contracts to be fulfilled.
In light of the finalized amendment, Commerce issued a simultaneous determination that the ongoing 2017-2018 administrative review of the Agreement is moot. Thus, the administrative review will not lead to termination of the Agreement and resumption of the underlying antidumping investigation, as could have occurred absent a finalized amendment.

Commerce’s Enforcement and Compliance unit in the International Trade Administration, which negotiated today’s amendment to the Agreement, is responsible for vigorously enforcing U.S. trade law and does so through an impartial, transparent process that abides by international rules and is based on factual evidence provided on the record.

[Mounder]

11/7/23
if Congress ever decides to fund them, they'll get it done.  I'm not holding my breath. If they can't even get around to the daylights saving approval, this will never happen either.

Centrus Makes First HALEU Delivery to U.S. Department of Energy
BETHESDA, MD – Today, Centrus Energy Corp. announced that it has made its first delivery of High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) to the U.S. Department of Energy, completing Phase One of its contract with the Department by successfully demonstrating its HALEU production process.  Centrus will now move on to Phase Two of the contract – requiring a full year of HALEU production at the rate of 900 kilograms per year at its American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio.

“Centrus is proud to be pioneering American HALEU production, with our first delivery of the fuel that is urgently needed to support the demonstration and commercialization of advanced reactors,” said Centrus President and CEO Daniel B. Poneman.  “This critical milestone is essential to meeting the Department’s near-term HALEU needs, while laying the groundwork for the full restoration of America’s lost domestic uranium enrichment capacity.  We are committed to working with the Department and industry to build a public-private partnership so that we can scale up production in the coming years to meet the full range of commercial and national security requirements for enriched uranium.”

“Our HALEU team has worked exceptionally hard to complete this project ahead of schedule and under budget – showing we can execute on big, complicated projects and deliver value to our customers,” said Centrus Senior Vice President of Operations Larry Cutlip. “We are grateful to have had the opportunity to demonstrate and expand our capabilities and expertise over the course of this work and look forward to embarking on the next phase of this important effort.”

Under a competitively awarded, cost-share contract signed with the U.S. Department of Energy in 2022, Centrus was required to begin production of HALEU by the end of this year.  Centrus began enrichment operations in October – two months ahead of schedule.  By completing delivery of more than 20 kilograms of HALEU to the Department, Centrus has finished Phase One of the contract.  The Department takes delivery of the HALEU on site in Piketon and is obligated to provide the HALEU storage cylinders to collect the HALEU from the cascade; Centrus has constructed a storage facility where the HALEU will be kept until it is needed.

Phase One included a 50 percent cost share requirement for Centrus, with the company and the Department each contributing about $30 million of the $60 million overall cost.  In Phase Two of the contract, the Department will pay Centrus on a cost-plus incentive fee basis for the HALEU the company produces.

HALEU is an advanced nuclear fuel required for most of the next-generation reactor designs currently under development.  The capacity of the 16-centrifuge cascade is modest – about 900 kilograms of HALEU per year – but with sufficient funding and offtake commitments, Centrus could significantly expand production.  A full-scale HALEU cascade, consisting of 120 centrifuge machines, with a combined capacity to produce approximately 6,000 kilograms of HALEU per year (6 MTU/year), could be producing HALEU within 42 months after securing the necessary funding.  With appropriate support, Centrus could add a second HALEU cascade six months later and subsequent cascades every two months after that.  That would mobilize hundreds of union workers in Ohio to build and operate the plant, while supporting thousands of direct and indirect jobs across a nationwide manufacturing supply chain.  The Piketon facility has ample space for the thousands of machines that will be needed to meet the growing demand for enriched uranium in the decades to come.