The U.S. Senate has voted to ban uranium imports from Russia as Washington ramps up pressure on Moscow’s war economy more than two years after President Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The bill, which was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in December, was voted for unanimously by senators on Tuesday. U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill into law.
The uranium import ban would go into effect 90 days after its enactment and is set to expire on Dec. 31, 2040. It also contains waivers in situations concerning energy and national security.
“America’s dangerous reliance on Russian enriched uranium must come to an end — our national security depends on it,” Senator Jim Risch, the bill’s co-sponsor, said in a statement.
“Our bipartisan legislation will help defund Russia’s war machine,” Senator John Barrasso, another co-sponsor, said.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that U.S. nuclear plants imported some 12% of their uranium from Russia in 2022, the year when Russian troops crossed over the border into Ukraine.
Washington banned Russian oil imports and capped the price of Russian energy exports in response to the full-scale invasion.
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