ENERGO: Russia still top US uranium seller despite 24% cut in 2022

The US in 2022 reduced its purchase of uranium feedstock from Russia by 24% year on year to 4.78 million pounds of U3O8 equivalent, Kommersant daily reported citing EIA data. This volume includes natural uranium (U3O8, oxide), uranium hexafluoride (UF6, a product of natural uranium conversion) and enriched uranium.

As followed by bne IntelliNews, in 2022 the administration of US President Joe Biden lobbied the Congress for a $4.3bn spending plan to buy enriched uranium directly from domestic producers to phase out Russian imports of the nuclear reactor fuel.

But even despite the 24% cut in exports, Russia remains the leader in supplying uranium enrichment services for US nuclear power plants (NPPs) with 33% market share.

Canada was the main supplier to the US in 2022 with a 27% share, with shipments rising nearly 61% to 11.1mn pounds of U3O8-equivalent. Kazakhstan sold 10mn pounds to the US. Uzbekistan sold 4.44mn pounds (up almost 78% y/y), bringing its share of the US market to 11%.