U.S. Uranium Market Goes Radio Silent on Tariff Shock

Uranium purchases in the United States have slowed considerably as power utilities process the effect of President Donald Trump’s tariff offensive in the market—and that offensive may yet transform that same market. Bloomberg reported this week that uranium purchases by U.S.

power utilities had dropped by 50% ahead of the 10% import tariff that Trump imposed on Canadian energy exports. The publication noted that those power utilities source more than a quarter of their uranium from Canada, which makes the potential impact of the tariffs rather palpable. If the tariffs do come into effect as scheduled and stay in place long enough, U.



S. power utilities may have to replace their top source of nuclear fuel if they are to take full advantage of what many have called a nuclear Renaissance. if(window.

innerWidth ADVERTISEMENTfreestar.config.enabled_slots.

push({ placementName: "oilprice_medrec_atf", slotId: "oilprice_medrec_atf" });';document.write(write_html);} The United States gets 27% of its uranium from Canada, per data from the Energy Information Administration. Another 25% comes from Kazakhstan, followed by Russia, which supplies 12% of the uranium U.

S. utilities use. Next on the list of suppliers is another Central Asian state, Uzbekistan, accounting for 11%, followed by Australia with 9%, and a group of six countries, including Germany, Malawi, and Namibia, which supply the remaining 16%.

Related: OPEC+ To Increase Oil Production in May: Report The root problem for U.S. power utilities is that the bulk of the uranium they use in their reactors is imported.

This overwhelming import dependence emerged in 1995 and has been expanding since then. As a result, almost all of the uranium used in nuclear reactors in the United States to date comes from abroad. In the context of nuclear power expansion, this could become problematic, as indicated by the tariff trouble power utilities face.

“We’re on a depletion curve that I don’t think many customers have realised,” Cory Kos, vice-president of investor relations at Canada-based Cameco, the biggest western supplier of uranium, told the Financial Times in February. Kos was commenting on the intensifying competition for limited available uranium resources, with Russia and China forging ahead of the collective West in securing these resources—and that’s without mentioning the fact that Russia is the biggest uranium processor globally. “Russia and China are rapidly expanding their offtake of mined uranium from international partners, uranium enrichment capabilities, and nuclear infrastructure,” analysts from the Center for Strategic and International Studies wrote in a recent report.

“To strengthen uranium and nuclear fuel supply chains, the United States must work with allies, implement conducive trade and tariff policies, and invest in both domestic enrichment capacity and uranium ore production abroad,” they recommended. if(window.innerWidth ADVERTISEMENTfreestar.

config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: "oilprice_medrec_btf", slotId: "oilprice_medrec_btf" });`;document.

write(write_html);} It appears, however, that Trump has chosen another approach with regard to allies, although he would probably be very much on board with developing local enrichment capacity. Indeed, one enriched uranium supplier to power utilities last year announced a $60-million expansion plan aimed at boosting its domestic enrichment capacity. “Nuclear is one of the key essential stabilizers in our sources on the grid.

And nuclear fuel is a key essential element of that,” Amir Vexler, president of Centrus Energy, told media . “Why would you not worry about the security of supply of that key ingredient to our grid?” Indeed, one does need to worry about the supply security of such a key ingredient, and perhaps Trump supporters would argue that reducing imports from Canada would stimulate the development of alternative supply chains. Critics, on the other hand, might counter with the argument that this is a sort of shock therapy that might hurt the “patient”.

Ultimately, however, it would be up to the consumers of that key ingredient for the grid to say whether the tariffs would be a net positive or a net negative for them. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.

com.