US splurges $1 billion on Russian uranium despite sanctions war

Before the escalation of the long-running Donbass crisis into a full-blown Russia-NATO proxy war in Ukraine last year, America’s nuclear power plants depended on Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan for nearly half of their enriched uranium. Well over a year into the conflict, Washington has apparently failed to find alternatives. The Biden administration’s failed quest to sanction the Russian economy into oblivion throughout the past year has included one massive exception this whole time – with the US continuing to buy Russian-sourced enriched uranium for use in nuclear power plants like there’s no tomorrow. According to calculations by US business media, American companies purchased roughly $1 billion worth of Russian enriched uranium over the past year. Industry experts attribute the continued buy up of the key commodity to the lack of domestic US conversion and enrichment capabilities, with Russian nuclear giant Rosatom continuing to account for about a quarter of all enriched…