The Kremlin’s top diplomat in the U.S. on Tuesday denounced President Biden’s decision this week to ban the importation from Russia of enriched uranium, the primary fuel used in nuclear power plants.
The U.S. already bars Russian oil and gas, so Monday’s move by the White House would cut off one of the last significant sources of money from the U.S. to Russia amid Moscow’s ongoing and costly war in Ukraine.
Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov accused the Biden administration of continuing a “stillborn policy of inflicting strategic defeat on us.”
“The current attack — not only on Russia but also on the world market for uranium fuel used in nuclear power plants — leads to new shocks in international economic relations,” Mr. Antonov said Tuesday on the Telegram messaging site. “The delicate balance between exporters and importers of uranium products is under threat.”
The Biden administration says the bipartisan Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act will ensure the U.S. will no longer rely on imported uranium fuel from the Russian Federation. It will unlock $2.72 billion recently appropriated by Congress to expand domestic uranium enrichment and conversion capacity.
“Our nation’s clean energy future will not rely on Russian imports,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said. “We are making investments to build out a secure nuclear fuel supply chain here in the United States.”
The law takes effect on Aug. 11. It gives Mr. Biden near-term authority to waive the ban if it could disrupt the operations of nuclear reactors. An applicant for a waiver must be able to show that no other alternative source of uranium is available or that important Russian-produced uranium would be in the national interest, officials said.
Mr. Antonov said the U.S. would be harming its own economy because it lacks sufficient national enrichment capacity.
“The financial losses for the United States will be much greater than for Russia. However, the main thing for local strategists is to harm our country,” he said. “The interests of consumers in Russian high-quality and highly competitive uranium are simply ignored here.”
The White House said the U.S. and its allies collectively invested $4.2 billion in December 2023 to establish a “resilient” global uranium supply market that would not need Russian suppliers.
Russian companies that had been supplying uranium to the U.S. will simply shift the supply to other customers, Ambassador Antonov said.
“The Russian economy is ready for any challenges and quickly responds to emerging difficulties,” he said. “It’s impossible to bring Russian specialized companies to their knees.”