Russia’s state supplier of uranium, Tekhsnabexsport (Tenex – part of Rosatom) has sent a notice of force majeure to its American customers, Bloomberg reported. “The force majeure notice seen by Bloomberg was sent to utilities including Constellation Energy Corp, the largest US nuclear plant operator, Duke Energy Corp and Dominion Energy Inc, according to a person familiar with the matter who wasn’t authorised to speak publicly. Constellation declined to comment and Duke and Dominion didn’t respond to a request seeking comment.”
On 13 May, US President Joe Biden signed a law banning the import of Russian low enriched uranium (LEU) after the initiative was approved by the US Senate and House of Representatives. The ban will be valid until 2040. Companies can apply for temporary waivers until 1 January 2028. Tenex warned that American customers have 60 days to get a waiver but confirmed that they would fulfil contractual obligations. Russia currently supplies about a quarter of the LEU used in US reactors. However, utilities that do not receive a waiver within 60 days could lose their place in line for reactor fuel shipments and these can take three to four months to complete.
Bloomberg quoted analysts who suggested that Russia could respond to the ban by pre-emptively halting reactor fuel shipments to the US prior to the waiver period expiring in 2028. “Such a move could cause the spot price of enrichment services to jump by as much as about 20%, according to nuclear fuel market research firm UxC.” The Bloomberg report was widely cited in the Russian media.
