About two months after the U.S. made it illegal in most cases to import Russian uranium, Centrus Energy Corp., Bethesda, Md., got a waiver to continue imports from the Federation in 2024 and 2025.
The waiver, granted by the Department of Energy on July 18, allows the company to continue imports of low-enriched uranium “for deliveries already committed by the Company to its U.S. customers,” according to an 8-K filing last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Centrus also applied for waivers to continue brokering Russian uranium to U.S. power plant operators in 2026 and 2027, but “ the DOE deferred its decision to an unspecified date closer in time to the deliveries,” according to the filing. Centrus said it would file another waiver application with DOE for those anticipated future deliveries.
Under the Prohibiting Russian Imports Act, signed May 13 by President Joe Biden (D), all U.S. imports of Russian uranium must cease by Jan. 1, 2028.
The ban bill was the product of a compromise between the Biden administration, which wanted billions in subsidies for U.S. uranium companies before cutting off Russian imports, and U.S. lawmakers who advocated for going cold turkey after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Centrus is the former U.S. Enrichment Corporation. Uranium brokerage is the company’s flagship business, accounting for most of its revenue each year. In a separate business segment, Centrus is developing centrifuges to enrich High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU) for the Department of Energy.
Centrus’ HALEU contract, for uranium that will fuel reactors DOE is trying to help commercialize, is worth up to $1 billion over 10 years, with options.
