While Europe frantically divests itself of Russian energy sources, the USA ramps up its uranium purchases from Russia.
The Russian state media published surprising data: Ria writes that American-Russian relations are at their peak again, at least with regard to the uranium trade. Uranium is an indispensable raw material in the production of fuel for nuclear reactors. The paper presents the latest November statistics based on American data, according to which in this field
Russia was the main supplier to the United States.
The flourishing American-Russian relationship is not new, but it is surprising in several ways.
America would get rid of Russian uranium only on paper
On the one hand, Russia became the main exporter of uranium again after five months, which means that it does not appear that the American side will separate from Russian energy sources, on the other hand, the Biden administration has stated on numerous occasions the importance of eliminating Russia's energy dependence, which its ally, Europe, took so seriously that even its economy is also willing to cause massive damage in order to achieve the goal. Perhaps the best example of this is Germany.
In comparison, the USA has so far not taken such a risk, and has not made any decisions to reduce Russian imports in the field of nuclear energy, which is really vital for it, even though several measures have been taken on paper to this end.
In fact, a senior Biden administration official just in November called the United States' heavy reliance on Russian nuclear fuel a critical threat.
How much money does the USA pay Russia?
In comparison, in the same month, the USA bagged Russian fissile material. Washington bought exactly 96 million dollars (roughly HUF 33 billion) from Moscow, which also means that in November more than 50 percent of all American uranium purchases were made through this channel. The importance of the Russian connection is clearly shown by the fact that they acquired only $48.6 million worth of uranium from the second-ranked Great Britain, $44 million from Japan, and only $2.4 million from Belgium.
In addition, the American money paid for Russian uranium in November jumped quite a bit compared to October: then only 63 million dollars flowed into the Russian budget. Which was also a brutal increase compared to September, when $32 million was transferred. The same reached $50.4 million in August and $61 million in July.
A summary of the first 11 months of 2023 shows that Russian uranium shipments to the US reached a ten-year record.
Last year, by the end of autumn, deals worth 1.017 billion dollars were concluded, which was only slightly higher than the 1.026 billion dollars achieved in the same period of 2010. Just for comparison: the total bill for the entire year of 2022 was $766 million.
At the same time, the overall picture includes the fact that the world market price of uranium almost doubled in the previous year. Uranium oxide is the main component of uranium concentrates, which are used as raw materials for the production of fuel for nuclear reactors.
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