Nuclear industry begs White House to keep Russia uranium coming

Major energy companies such as BP, Shell and Exxon Mobile, as well as some of the world’s largest corporations including Apple, Disney, Adidas, Warner Brothers and General Motors are in the process of cutting their business ties with Russia. The move comes in protest at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But the US nuclear power industry has no such scruples. As 24/7 news footage shows civilians running for their lives and children killed or separated from their families, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) is busy lobbying the White House to ensure that the flow of Russian uranium to the US is not impeded by anything as inconvenient as an illegal invasion of a democratic country.

In an exclusive story by Reuters, it was revealed on Wednesday that the desperate nuclear industry, which depends on Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan for almost 50% of its uranium supply, is begging the White House to uphold an exemption that would allow a continued flow of uranium from Russia.

The sanctions and boycotts are designed to hobble Russia financially, but the NEI is thinking only of its own already economically hobbled US nuclear power industry, which could collapse permanently if its uranium supply is suddenly halved by a Russia boycott.

The US imports around 22% of its uranium from Canada, but the uranium from Russian and the former Soviet countries is cheaper.

An anonymous insider told Reuters that “The (U.S. nuclear power) industry is just addicted to cheap Russian uranium.”

The Russian nuclear industry is nationalized, under Rosatom, and falls under the control of the country’s president, Vladimir Putin. Choking off uranium exports would add greatly to the economic pressure already being applied by other companies blackballing Russia.

But the US nuclear industry has parked its own conscience at the White House gate.