Uranium Executives Anticipated Russian Nuclear Fuel Ban Despite Senate Delay

Mining executives had been expecting the United States would ban enriched uranium from Russia despite a monthslong delay in Congress.

Last week, the U.S. Senate voted to ban nuclear fuel from Russia, sending the measure to President Joe Biden for his widely expected signature. The vote came nearly five months after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the measure.

The ban had stalled in the Senate after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) kept the upper chamber from fast-tracking the bill because of an unrelated matter, even though the Texas Republican said he didn’t dissagree with the ban. He reportedly lifted the hold after news last week that the White House was considering executive action on the issue.

Also Read: US Lawmakers Vote To Ban Russian Uranium In Win For North American Miners

The ban would unlock $2.7 billion in spending on a domestic nuclear uranium conversion and enrichment supply chain that Congress approved this year.

Because that spending was contingent on a ban on Russian uranium, and because the ban had broad bipartisan support, uranium mining executives were expecting the measure to eventually pass.

The broad support comes as the United States is trying to deprive Moscow of funding for its war in Ukraine. 

The death of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison in February bolstered support for the ban.

"It puts a hell of a lot of pressure on it now," Paul Goranson, CEO of enCore Energy Corp. EU, told Benzinga in March at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference and trade show.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine was bad enough, but Navalny's death caused the argument for banning Russian uranium to gain steam, Scott Melbye, CEO of Uranium Royalty Corp. UROY, told Benzinga at the show, a major mining event held annually in Toronto.

Even without Navalny's death, there seemed to be a sense of inevitability about the ban among uranium executives at the show.

Energy Fuels Inc. UUUU spokesman Curtis Moore told Benzinga at the show that there seemed to be some "momentum growing" for the ban and that he "was starting to hear more buzz about the uranium ban coming into place."

"It feels like it was always going to pass," Amir Adnani, CEO of Uranium Energy Corp. UEC, told Benzinga at the show. "The latest developments in Russia create that sense of urgency for the U.S. to be doing something."

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