DOE allows nuclear company Centrus to import Russian uranium in 2024-25

US nuclear company Centrus Energy will be allowed to import Russian-enriched uranium in 2024 and 2025 for already-contracted deliveries to US customers under a waiver the US Department of Energy approved.

Centrus said in a July 19 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it submitted its first waiver request application to DOE May 27, three days after the department published instructions on the waiver application in the Federal Register.

Such waivers were allowed under the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law May 14. Russian-enriched uranium supplies about 20% of US reactor requirements.

Congress enacted the legislation April 30 in response to Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The law, which bans imports of uranium enriched in Russia, effective Aug. 11, establishes a waiver system, available through the end of 2027, for nuclear plant operators who are deemed to have no viable alternative sources of fuel or for any imports deemed in the national interest.

Although Centrus sought waivers for 2024-27, DOE "deferred its decision to an unspecified date closer in time to the deliveries" in 2026 and 2027, the company said.

It said it filed a second waiver request application June 7 to allow for importation of Russian enriched uranium for processing and reexport to the company's foreign customers "and is awaiting DOE's determination."

Centrus said it plans to file a third waiver-request application to allow Russian imports in 2026 and 2027, although it does not yet have customers for that enriched uranium.

"Pretty [nervy] to request a waiver to import Russian SWU that you have not sold yet," a nuclear plant fuel buyer said July 19 of the Centrus plans. The fuel buyer spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss commercially sensitive supplier actions.

In response, Vice President for Corporate Communications Dan Leistokow said July 19, "Centrus and others in industry are working to build new capacity, but that will take a few years and there is broad agreement that the U.S. faces a shortage of enrichment in the meantime. That is precisely why the waiver process was created."

Unclear whether more waivers will follow

For several years, Centrus has bought from Rosatom subsidiary Tenex an annual quantity of Russian enriched uranium under a quota that the Russian Suspension Agreement, which halted an anti-dumping investigation, set. The waiver language allows DOE to approve quantities up to the limits in the suspension agreement.

"It is uncertain whether any further waivers will be granted to the company and, if granted, whether any waiver would be granted in a timely manner or will be sufficient in scope to support the company's intended operations," the company said.

DOE has not said how many waivers it has received or how many it has approved.