US Mining Companies Seek New Section 232 Import Restrictions, Including Quota, on Uranium
Ur-Energy USA and Energy Fuels Resources recently filed a joint request for a Section 232 investigation on the national security effects of uranium imports. The petition says imports of uranium, particularly from Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, imperil the viability of the U.S. domestic uranium mining industry and its ability to supply uranium for nuclear weapons and reactors aboard naval vessels. The two mining companies request a quota that would reserve 25 percent of the U.S. market for domestically mined uranium, as well as a Buy America policy for U.S. government agencies that use uranium.
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If the Section 232 investigation is initiated by the Bureau of Industry and Security, the agency would have 270 days to compile its report, followed by another 30 days for the Trump administration to determine whether to take action against uranium imports. Though BIS would have the option of requesting public comments and holding a hearing, as well as working with other agencies to determine national security impacts, the Jan. 16 petition requests that the investigation be conducted under expedited procedures whereby solicitation of input would not be required. By law, BIS is required to begin a Section 232 investigation “immediately” upon receiving a valid request. BIS did not immediately comment.
The Section 232 proceeding would come on top of ongoing national security investigations on steel and aluminum. A previous Section 232 investigation in 1989 also covered uranium, though that investigation ended with a finding that uranium imports did not “impair the national security,” according to a BIS Section 232 handbook. The U.S. also has antidumping duty orders in place on uranium from Russia and low-enriched uranium from France, with AD duty orders on Russia currently suspended. Ur-Energy and Energy Fuels say the upcoming expiration of that suspension agreement “will remove existing limits on Russian uranium imports,” creating “additional pressure on U.S. uranium producers,” in a press release.
According to the petition, state-owned uranium mining companies in Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are “destroying our uranium mining industry,” having already seized control of the U.S. market with domestic miners supplying no more than 5 percent of U.S. uranium needs. “Unless the government acts promptly, these state-sponsored foreign companies will succeed in their objective of destroying any future for U.S. uranium mining operations,” it said.
The effort is “driven by Russian geopolitical goals and is part of a broader effort to expand Russian influence around the globe,” the petition said. “Such state-sponsored actions against the U.S. industry require a comparable response by our government. That is the precise reason Congress enacted Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 -- to protect essential national security industries whose survival is threatened by imports,” the petition said. International treaties preclude the use of foreign uranium for certain defense purposes, such as in nuclear warheads and as fuel for nuclear submarines.