The US authorities must urgently take action to overcome the dependence on the import of enriched uranium from Russia, but this must be done without stopping American nuclear power plants.
“It is very sad how dependent we are on enriched uranium imported from Russia. Our current state is sad. We have to overcome this. But we have to overcome this without closing the nuclear power plants that are operating today. This is an area that requires urgent action“. This was stated by Chris Wright, nominated by US President-elect Donald Trump for the post of US Secretary of Energy, at a Senate hearing.
Wright promised to quickly increase the production of uranium and plutonium if confirmed in the position. "I have serious concerns in this area (about maintaining the nuclear arsenal). The U.S.'s uranium enrichment capacity has been limited over the past few decades. Even our ability to produce plutonium cores (a key component of nuclear weapons) has collapsed to almost zero," he said.
"There are some efforts to change that, but I want to make sure they move as quickly and efficiently as possible. The highest guarantee of sovereignty for this country is our nuclear arsenal. This is not an area where we can cut corners and not worry about it," Wright concluded.
In May 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy reported that Russia holds approximately 44% of the world's uranium enrichment capacity. At that time, the Russian Federation accounted for about 35% of the nuclear fuel imported from the United States.