US government looking into Chinese enriched uranium imports, officials say

The US National Security Council is looking into recent purchases of uranium enriched in China by US utility Constellation Energy, two industry officials said Oct. 29.

As part of a panel session at the Nuclear Energy Institute’s International Uranium Fuel Seminar in Kansas City, Scott Melbye, president of the Uranium Producers of America, said customs data shows that Russia started exporting large quantities of enriched uranium to China after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 turned buyers away from Russian nuclear fuel. In turn, China has started sending “unusual” amounts of Chinese-enriched uranium to the US in recent years, he said.

The UPA and the US subsidiary of European enrichment company Urenco have asked the US Department of Commerce to look into the imports of Chinese enriched uranium to the US, saying it represents a circumvention of US laws including a recently implemented ban on Russian enriched uranium.

“The Biden White House has initiated an investigation,” Melbye said. In an interview after the event, Melbye clarified that this was a reference to a National Security Council review. “What Constellation does, others follow,” he added.

Western nuclear companies are in the process of seeking to disengage from Russia’s state nuclear industry, which has supplied more than a third of uranium conversion and enrichment services globally. Not enough Western capacity is available to immediately replace Russian imports, and the US and other governments have sought to spur additional capacity through grants and bulk purchases in recent months.

The Russian Suspension Agreement, which ended an anti-dumping investigation of Russian enrichment services, has limited imports from Russia to about 15% of US reactor enrichment requirements. The Russian enriched uranium ban, which prohibits all imports after 2027 and sets a process for waivers allowing some material from August 2024 through the end of 2027, prohibits bringing in enriched uranium that was “exchanged with, swapped for, or otherwise obtained in lieu of” Russian enriched uranium “in a manner designed to circumvent the restrictions under this section.”

Constellation Energy, which operates 21 nuclear reactors in the US, has been purchasing enrichment services from China for several years, Jeanne Tortorelli, director of nuclear fuel supply for the company, said during the panel session. She said the amounts have not been increasing and may be set to decrease and confirmed that her company had spoken to the Department of Commerce and the National Security Council, which are looking at the imports.

“There is a need to keep these [nuclear] plants running,” Tortorelli said.

Constellation supports efforts to add US enrichment capacity and has signed long-term contracts to encourage such deployment as rapidly as possible, she added. “We’ve spent more than the US government has,” Tortorelli said.

Constellation has purchased Chinese enrichment services since the late 2010s and “they’ve been a good business partner,” she said.

Melbye said that according to Chinese custom's data, 174.9 mt of low-enriched uranium from China was sent to the US in 2023 after two years in which none was shipped. In 2024 so far, 123.9 mt has entered the US from China, he added.

Jack Edlow, president of Edlow International, a nuclear material logistics company which shipped the Chinese material to the US, said during the panel that another US utility may be preparing to purchase Chinese enrichment services. US buyers of enriched uranium in the form of uranium hexafluoride pay China only for the enrichment services used in the enriched uranium, returning the natural uranium component to China as part of a purchase, Edlow noted.

“We need to work together with China now until we can rebuild our fuel cycle sector,” Edlow said.

Melbye said he wants a healthy US uranium conversion and enrichment industry free from dependence on Russia or China. Some in Congress support banning Chinese enriched uranium, he noted.