Why the World Can’t Easily Wean Itself Off Russian Nuclear Fuel

By Felicity Bradstock – OilPrice.com

As the dominant producer of enriched uranium, Russia became the world’s main supplier of the fuel needed to power nuclear energy projects, as many countries find it difficult to decrease their dependency on Moscow for the fuel. Russia supplies around 40 percent of the world’s enriched uranium, followed by China (17 percent), France (12 percent), the U.S. (11 percent), the Netherlands (8 percent), the U.K. (7 percent), and Germany (6 percent). Shifting dependence away from Russia has been very difficult, as alternative supplies simply do not exist in the way they do for other energy sources, such as oil and gas.