The House approves a bill mandating the purchase of domestic nuclear fuel

The House passed legislation on Thursday that requires the United States to buy tons of fuel for domestic nuclear reactors, according to Bloomberg News.

The mandate for domestic uranium purchases was included as a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and passed by a bipartisan vote of 310-118, seconds at Bloomberg. The provision would require the Department of Energy (DOE) to buy about 20 tons of highly enriched nuclear reactor fuel from US companies by the end of 2027.

The provision is part of a larger bipartisan effort to reduce the country's reliance on Russia for uranium, and will head to President Joe Biden's desk for signature with the rest of NDAA. Russia currently supplies about 24% of the enriched uranium used by the US, making it the largest foreign supplier, according to Bloomberg.

Billions of dollars that would fund the effort are currently in limbo in the Senate because Republicans demolished a bill to support Ukraine that included funds for the nuclear fuel initiative this week, according to Bloomberg. Meanwhile, the House has already passed a separate bill that would ban the import of all Russian uranium after 2028; the bill is still pending in the Senate.

Despite bipartisan consensus that the US should reduce its reliance on Russian uranium, the Biden administration moved in August to designate nearly 1 million uranium-rich acres near the Grand Canyon as a national monument, meaning the land covered by the designation cannot be used for mining.

Russian Uranium Ban Law Could Raise U.S. Uranium Prices Significantly. seconds at Bloomberg. It is unclear whether the NDAA-mandated purchase program will apply downward pressure on these prices.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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