The US administration is developing a plan to quickly resume enriched uranium production in the country.
“We have allowed ourselves to become dependent on China and Russia for critical minerals“, said the country's Interior Minister Douglas Burgum. told reporters in the White House press room aboard Air Force One during a flight from Arizona to Washington.
“It is unacceptable for America to buy uranium from Russia, so Energy Secretary Chris Wright and I are working very hard to develop a plan that will allow the United States to resume enriched uranium production in the country as soon as possible“, the minister added.
On September 15, the US Energy Secretary said that the country is not yet ready to completely abandon Russian uranium due to its high dependence on supplies from Russia. According to Bloomberg, Russia supplies about a quarter of the enriched uranium needed for the 94 US nuclear reactors, which generate approximately a fifth of the country's electricity. The rapid shutdown of these supplies is expected to threaten about 5% of the country's electricity production.