Russia breaks "wall" into U.S. nuclear market (selling uranium from dismantled warheads)

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 5/26/09 | Simon Shuster

[NormsRevenge]

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia signed a landmark deal to supply nuclear fuel directly to U.S. companies on Tuesday, setting itself up to control 20 percent of the U.S. uranium market and extending its global reach in the nuclear sector.

At a ceremony in the Russian capital, U.S. electricity firms PG&E, Ameren Corp and Luminant signed deals to get more than $1 billion in uranium supplies from Russia's state nuclear fuel exporter Tenex between 2014 and 2020.

"This is a revolutionary breakthrough," Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russia's state atomic energy firm, Rosatom, which controls Tenex, told reporters.

Until last year, U.S. anti-dumping laws had only allowed Russia to sell the United States uranium recovered from dismantled Soviet nuclear weapons. These sales are carried out through U.S. uranium trader USEC Inc.

"We have broken through the wall forbidding us to sell Russian fuel to the American market. After the contracts signed today, we will start new contracts," a jubilant Kiriyenko said after drinking toasts of champagne with the Americans. "This is only the beginning."

[NormsRevenge]

I'm not sure who is getting the better deal but..

That's one way to get rid of that pesky uranium.

[silverleaf]

It is also a way to get reliant on a source that could be disrupted for geopolitical reasons

Who is buying our own uranium?

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Hasn’t this been going on since the early Clinton years; eg, early 90’s?

[Nathan Zachary]

"That's one way to get rid of that pesky uranium. "

It's also a good way to smuggle a nuclear warhead into the country.

[Nathan Zachary]

or at least the grade of fuel for one.

[buckalfa]

It is my understanding that the only active uranium enrichment facility operating in the US is the gaseous diffusion plant in Paducah, KY. Centrifuge pilots are located in Oak Ridge and Piketon, OH. One could make the case that supply from American sources is low and prices are high compared to the Russian source. It might be said that Iran has better technology and capcity than does the United States at this juncture.

[Thunder90]

The Russians have thousands of useless warheads that they didn’t fully dismantle, thus they are going to sell them to us. The proceeds from the sales will be used to build new modern nuclear weapons and delivery systems.